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RECOLLECTIONS 



OF 



E XI C O. 



BY WADDY THOMPSON, ESQ., 

LATE ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY 
OF THE UNITED STATES AT MEXICO. 



'\,l 



NEW YORK & LONDON. 
WILEY AND PUTNAM. 

1846. 



Enterbd according to act of Congress in the year 1846, by 

WILEY AND PUTNAM, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. 



R. Craighead's Power Preaa T. B. Smith, Stereotyper, 

112 Pulton Street 216 William Street. 



J47 



TO THE HON.W.C. PRESTON. 

My dear Preston : 
I inscribe this volume to you in testimony of a friendship contracted 
when we were room-mates in college, and which has continued to increase 
until the shadows of evening begin to fall upon our path. 

Faithfully your friend, 

WADDY THOMPSON. 



PREFACE. 



I HAVE yielded with a good deal of reluctance to the importunities of 
many of my friends in consenting to devote the little leisure which is left 
me from professional and other avocations, to writing the following 
pages. No thought of such a thing ever occurred to me during my 
residence in Mexico, or I should have supplied myself, as I had abundant 
means of doing, with the materials for such a work. The book, there- 
fore, will be found to contain just what its title imports—" Recollections 
and Desultory Dissertations." The reader must not expect the Hfe and 
freshness of a finished picture, but mere sketches and outlines--nor that 
minute exactness of detail on many subjects which may be desirable, 
although I believe that the sketches will be found to be generally accu- 
rate ; I can say in the words of an affidavit to an answer in chancery, 
"that the facts stated as of my own knowledge are true, and those 
stated on the information of others I believe to be true." I am not 
sure, however, that a description of the customs, scenes, and peculiar- 
ities of a country is not generally the better for being written a year or 
two after the writer has left it. The want of exactness in minute par- 
ticulars is compensated by the absence of a sometimes wearisome tedious- 
ness of detail, and often of circumstances of interest only to the writer. 
And it is perhaps also true that the general remembrance— a sort of 
skeleton map which is left on the mind of the writer will give to the 
reader a more accurate coup d'ml of the country and all its peculiarities, 
physical and social, than a more minute description. Before I went to 
Mexico I sought in vain for some work which would give me some idea 
of the society, manners, and customs of that unique, and, in a great de- 
gree, primitive people. This want has been since supplied. I could have 



VI PREFACE. 

dilated these sketches to an almost indefinite extent, but I have endeavored 
to avoid tediousness and drivelling, and have therefore omited to notice 
many things which at first struck me as very strange. I have visited 
no other Catholic country ; but to one educated in the unostentatious 
purity and simplicity of the Protestant religion, there is something very 
striking in the pomp and pageantry of the Catholic ritual as it exists in 
Mexico, and I must say something equally revolting in its disgusting 
mummeries and impostures, which degrade the Christian religion into 
an absurd, ridiculous, and venal superstition. If such things are not 
practised in other Catholic countries, why, then the priests of Mexico 
are alone responsible ; but if these things are not confined to Mexico, the 
sooner and more generally they are exposed the better. 

It is equally true of nations as of individuals, that those who are not 
entirely assured of a well-established and unquestioned position, are 
peculiarly sensitive to criticism, however kindly meant or respectfully 
expressed. Of no people in the world is this more true than of the 
Mexicans. They understand perfectly their true position in the estima- 
tion of the world, notwithstanding their characteristic vaunting and 
gasconade. I think that it is generally true that men are most apt to 
boast of qualities which they are conscious of not possessing. The 
Mexican character has much that is good in it, but very much also that 
is bad. In bearing testimony to the former, I cannot be silent as to the 
latter — for indiscriminate praise is in its effects censure. My fault 
has been much more that of extenuation than " setting down 
aught in malice" — the latter would be impossible, for I was treated 
with so much kindness by people of all classes, from the lepero in the 
streets up to the President, that it would be a source of deep pain to me 
to know that I had wantonly wounded the feelings of any one person in 
the broad circumference of the Republic. I assure them in all sincerity 
that I take a deep interest in their continued advances in the great 
career of civil liberty, and their ultimate success in establishing Repub- 
lican institutions on a permanent basis. God grant them success, both 
on their own account as well as for the great cause in which they have 
so long struggled, and under circumstances so discouraging. 

THE AUTHOR. 

February 2, 1846. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Departure from New Orleans— Peak of Orizaba — St. Juan de UUoa — 
City of Vera Cruz— The Vomito— Condition of the Negro Popula- 
tion—Mexican system of Servitude— New Custom House— Mexican 
and American contrasts 1 

CHAPTER n. 
Line of Stages between Vera Cruz and Mexico — Noble Disinterested- 
ness of an American Stage Driver — Vera Cruz to Jalapa — Miscel- 
laneous Hints — Property of Santa Anna in Jalapa — Great beauty 
of its situation— Perote 10 

CHAPTER HI. 
Route to Puebla— Cultivation of the Soil— The Maguey— Pulque— Pri- 
mitive Plough— Indifference to Agricultural Wealth— Robbers on 
the Road— Execution by the Garote— Gaming an Incentive to Rob- 
bery—Singular Story of a Robber 15 

CHAPTER IV. 
Puebla the Lowell of Mexico— Obstacles to Manufactures— City of 
Cholula— Incredibility of Cortes' Narrative— First sight of the Val- 
ley of Mexico— Description of the Valley— Neglect of resources in 
the supply of the Capital— Arrieros 27 

CHAPTER V. 
The City of Mexico— The Palace— Cathedral— Wealth of the Church- 
Masses, a Productive System of Revenue — The Streets and Build- 
ings of Mexico — Curious Position of Stables — Inundations of the City 37 

CHAPTER VI. 
Early visit to Mr. Kendall, of the Santa Fe Expedition— Death of 
the wife of Santa Anna— Presentation to Santa Anna— Historical 
Sketch— Career of Santa Anna— Victoria 51 



Vm CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 
Official and Private Intercourse with Santa Anna — Santa Anna's First 
Interview with General Jackson — His Explanation of the Massacre 
of the Alamo — Decimation of the Prisoners of Mier — Anecdotes of 
Gratitude and Humanity in Santa Anna — Character of Santa Anna. 66 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Public Characters of Mexico— M. Bocanegra — Triqueros — Tornel— 
Paredes— Valencia — Count Cortina — Bustamente — Gomez Farrias — 
Almonte — Cuevas, the Archbishop of Mexico 82 

CHAPTER IX. 
Public Release of Texian Prisoners — General spirit of Kindness to 
them — Their "Work in the Public Streets — Anecdotes of Virtue and 
Disinterestedness on the part of the Prisoners 92 

CHAPTER X. 
Catholic Ceremonies — Procession of the Host — Corpus Christi Day — 
Our Lady of Remedies — Connection of the Image with the early 
History of Mexico — Present state of its Worship 101 

CHAPTER XI. 
Religious Drama — " Mystery" of the Nativity — The Virgin of Guada- 
loupe — Sincerity of Mexican Churchmen exhibited in a Scene of 
Penance — Morality of the Clergy 110 

- CHAPTER XII. 
The Museum — Old Indian Weapons at the period of the Conquest — 
Hieroglyphics — Armor of Cortes — Journal of Bernal Diaz — Pedi'O 
de Alvarado — The Stone of Sacrifice 116 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The New Theatre — Market — Alameda — The Paseo — Aqueducts — Wa- 
ter Carriers — Drones — Great National Pawn Shop — A Necklace of 
Pearls — Four Diamond Rings — Anecdotes of a Revolutionary country 125 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Gambling Festival of St. Augustin — Cock-fighting — Anecdotes of 
Mexican Honesty — Visit to the city of Tezcuco — Mexican Horses 
— Pyramids — Ruins — An Indian Inn — Extraordinary Ruin 132 

CHAPTER XV. 
Scientific Institutions— -Mineria— Academy of Fine Arts— Absence of 
Benevolent Institutions— Health of the Climate — Freedom from 
Intemperance —Fruits— Education of the Common People 132 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Diplomatic Position upon entering Mexico — Fellow Travellers — 
Friendship with Englishmen — Aversion of Englishmen to General 
Jackson 154 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Kindness and Courtesy — Society of Dinner Parties and Entertainments 
— Mexican Ladies wanting in Beauty — Do not dance well — Charity — 
Routine of daily Life — Costliness of Dress— In the Streets — Women 
generally Smoke — A day in the Country 160 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Congress of Deputies — Patriotism — The Army — Undisciplined Troops 
— The Lasso, an Instrument of Warfare — Mexican and American 
Cavalry — Mode of Recruiting the Army — Texian Conflicts with the 
Mexicans 167 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Review of Mexican History since the Revolution — Provisions of the 
Constitution of Tacubaya — Departments of Government — Powers 
and Duties of the various Officers — Free Institutions without the 
Spirit of Freedom 178 

CHAPTER XX. 
Want of Statistics — Census — Amount of Exports— Specie Exported 
— Excessive Taxation — Taxes on Internal Commerce — Tobacco 
Monopoly — Peculation — Table of Revenues — Dilapidation of the 
large Estates 187 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Prohibition of Raw Cotton — Attempts to procure a Modification of this 
Policy — Public Debt of Mexico — Mines of the Precious Metals — 
Present Productiveness — Undeveloped Resources — Capacities of 
Mexico if inhabited by the people of the United States 201 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Want of Navigable Streams in Mexico — Railroad from Vera Cruz to 
Mexico — Valley of the Mississippi — Mineral and Vegetable Pro- 
ductions — Cotton — Rice — Wax — Silk — Manufactures of Cotton — 
Mechanic Arts 205 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
A Miscellany Chapter — Three Lions of Mexico — Calendar Stone- 
Burial Ground of Santa Maria — The Paseo — Santa Anna's Coach 



X CONTENTS. 

driven by an American — Reflections — Mexican Carriages — Costly- 
Equipage — Mexican Women on Horseback— The Theatre — The 
Bull Fight — Mean Temperature— Character of the Mexicans, by 
Clavigero 212 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Adjustment of American Claims — Order for the Expulsion of Ameri- 
cans from California Rescinded — Various Negotiations — Anecdote 
of Santa Anna's love of Cock-fighting 223 

CHAPTER XXV 
The California Question — Captain Suter's Settlement — Value of the 
Country — Importance to the United States — English Influence in 
Mexico — Annexation of Mexican Provinces to the United States — 
Present Relations 232 

Conclusion 242 

APPENDIX. 
Translation from the True History of the Conquest of New Spain, by 

Bernal Diaz 252 

Passage relating to General Victoria 274 

The Execution of Morelos 277 

Letter of General Jackson in Reference to a Texian Prisoner 279 

Diplomatic Correspondence 284 



RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 



CHAPTER I. 

Departure from New Orleans — Peak of Orizaba — St. Juan de UUoa — City 
of Vera Cruz — The Vomito — Condition of the Negro Population — Mexi- 
can system of Servitude — New Custom House — Mexican and American, 
contrasts. 

Not finding, on my arrival at New Orleans, the vessel 
which had been ordered there to carry me to Vera Cruz,, 
and aware of the deep and general interest which was^ 
felt in the fate of the Texan prisoners of the Santa F6 
Expedition, I determined to avail myself of the first con- 
veyance which presented itself. The revenue cutter 
Woodbury was politely offered me by the Collector of 
the port of New Orleans, which I gladly accepted. The 
fine sailing qualities of this admirable little vessel, and the 
kindness of its excellent and most skilful officers, Capt. 
Nones and Lieutenants Faunce and Wilson, left me no 
cause to regret this determination. We left New Orleans 
on the 2d of April, 1842, and on the 9th were iri sight of the 
Peak of Orizaba : but, from adverse winds, and no winds at 
all, we did not enter the harbor of Vera Cruz until the 10th, 
when we anchored under the walls of the famous castle 
of St. Juan de UUoa. Few sights can be more grand and 
imposing than the mountain of Orizaba, as seen from the 
2 



2 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. I. 

sea. The elevation of this mountain above the level of 
the sea is, according to Humboldt, 17,400 feet. All above 
the height of 15,092 feet is covered with snow — for that 
is the point at which, in that latitude, the region of perpetual 
snow begins. Clavijero, who is in general to be relied 
upon, says that this mountain is without any doubt the highest 
;point of the territory of Mexico ; but in this he is mistaken 
— subsequent more accurate observations and calculations 
■have shown that Popocateptl, in the vicinity of the 
'city of Mexico, has an elevation of 17,900 feet above the 
level of the sea. Orizaba is a volcanic mountain. In the 
year 1545 it emitted smoke and ashes ; but since that time 
there has been no eruption of any sort. It is about fifty 
miles from the coast, and may be seen at the distance of 
one hundred and fifty miles at sea. The first view which 
I had of it was literally a glimpse, for it was difficult to 
distinguish the mountain from the clouds which surrounded 
it. I can conceive of nothing which conveys more of the 
sublime and beautiful than this lofty mountain, " with its 
diadem of snow," seen from on board a ship of war ; a 
union of all the grandeur and sublimity of a lofty mountain 
with the vastness and power of the ocean, and the symmetry 
and beauty of one of the noblest structures of man. 

The little island of St. Juan de Ulloa, which is entirely 
•covered with the fortress, is some five or six hundred yards 
from the mole at Vera Cruz, between which points all the 
commercial shipping anchors. It can scarcely be called a 
harbor, but an open road, like most of the others on the 
Gulf of Mexico. It frequently occurs that violent north 
winds (called " los nortes," or northers) drive the vessels on 
shore, and seriously injure the mole itself. Vessels of war 
of other nations anchor about three miles below, near the 
island of Sacrificios. A very narrow channel affords the 



CHAP. I.] ' ST. JUAN Dli ULLOA. 3 

only passage for vessels of war, which must of necessity 
pass immediately under the guns of the fort. The fortress 
of St. Juan de Ulloa has always been looked upon as one 
of the strongest in the world. With a proper armament 
and competent engineers, I should regard it as almost 
impregnable, if indeed that term can now be with truth 
applied to any place after the recent inventions and im- 
provements in this department of military science. When 
it was blown up in 1839, by the French, the armament 
was in a most wretched condition, and as to scientific engi- 
neers and artillerists, there were none. Even then it 
would not have been so much of a holiday affair as it was, 
had it not been for the accidental explosion of the maga- 
zine. Any future assailant must not expect so easy a vic- 
tory if it is tolerably defended. I was very much surprised, 
however, to learn that, in the beginning of the year 1843, 
when an attack was anticipated from the English, General 
Santa Anna ordered the fortress to be dismantled, and the 
guns removed to Vera Cruz. 

But Vera Cruz is much more effectually protected than 
by all her fortifications, by the northers and vomito (the 
yellow fever). The former have been the terror of all 
seamen since the discovery of the country. The latter 
prevails on all the Atlantic coast of Mexico during the 
whole year, and with the greatest malignancy for two- 
thirds of the year ; and it so happens, that the few months 
of comparative exemption from the ravages of the yellow 
fever are precisely those when the northers prevail with 
the most destructive violence. 

I can see no advantage which could be gained by get- 
ting possession of Vera Cruz which would be at all com- 
mensurate with the loss of life, from disease alone, in retain- 
ing it. It is not the only port which Mexico possesses ; 



4 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. I. 

and if it were, there is no country in the world which would 
be so little injured by cutting off all its foreign commerce, 
for there is no single want of civilized man which Mexico 
is not capable of furnishing. The town, it is true, might 
be destroyed, and heavy losses and much individual suffer- 
ing be caused, but these are amongst the painful and 
deplorable consequences, not the legitimate objects of 
honorable war. 

The present city of Vera Cruz is not the same which was 
built by Cortes, and which was the first European settle- 
ment ever made upon this continent, that is to say, in 
the year 1519. The villa rica de la Vera Cruz, the rich 
town of the true cross, which was settled by Cortes, is dis- 
tant about six miles from the present city. Vera Cruz is 
rather a pretty town, with broad and reasonably clean 
streets. It would no doubt be as healthy as any other 
place in the same latitude and climate, if it were not for 
some large swamps in the rear of the city. The vomito is 
by no means the only, nor do I think it the most fatal of the 
diseases which prevail there. The bills of mortality in 
some years exhibit a great number of deaths from some 
other diseases, whilst in other years much the greatest 
number die of vomito. This difference is owing, I think, 
in a great degree, to the greater or less number of sol- 
diers sent down there in the most sickly months — stran- 
gers alone being subject to the disease. There is no in- 
stance of a person born in Vera Cruz having been attacked 
by this disease, although carried away in early infancy, 
and not returning until fully grown. I have heard state- 
ments made upon this subject much stranger even than this. 
It is not regarded there as by any means the most danger- 
ous type of fever. Eminent physicians have even told me 
that of all the forms of fever, they regarded it as the most 



CHAP. I.] YELLOW FEVER. 5 

manageable and least dangerous, if medical aid is called for 
in due time. According to the estimates of those most 
entitled to confidence, less than five per cent, of those 
attacked die. This estimate does not include the patients 
in the hospitals, for the reason that the general terror of 
being sent to the hospital is so great, that many are deterred 
from applying for relief until their cases are beyond the 
reach of remedies. Some facts came under my observa- 
tion which went very far to shake my confidence — never 
very great — in medical theories. The universal treatment 
of yellow fever, by the Vera Cruz physicians, is very sim- 
ple, and certainly not very unpleasant ; — it is nothing 
more than cold applications to the stomach, and lime juice 
and sweet oil given internally ; and this practice is so 
generally successful, as to give the result which I have 
stated — five per cent, of deaths. They say there that calo- 
mel is certainly fatal ; but hear the other, the calomel side 
of the question. The prisoners of the Santa Fe expedition 
were released on the 16th of June, and arrived at Vera 
Cruz in August, where they remained more than a month ; 
forty-five of them were attacked by the yellow fever, and in 
its most malignant form, as may be well supposed, from their 
irregular habits and the total destitution of all the comforts 
of a sick bed. They were attended by a young physician 
who belonged to the expedition, and whose practice was 
to give large doses of calomel — not more than one died. 
I am not certain that a single one died of the disease. 

There are a good many negroes in Vera Cruz ; more, 
probably, than in any other portion of Mexico. I did not see 
half-a-dozen negroes in the city of Mexico in a residence 
there of two years, and very few mulattoes. It is a very 
great mistake to suppose that they enjoy anything like a 
social equality, even with the Indian population ; and, a]- 



6 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. I. 

though there are no political distinctions, the aristocracy of 
color is quite as great in Mexico as it is in this country ; 
and the pure Castillian is quite as proud that he is a man 
without " a cross," as was old Leather-stocking, even if 
that cross should have been with the Indian race however 
remote. The negro, in Mexico, as everywhere else, is 
looked upon as belonging to a class a little lower than the 
lowest — the same lazy, filthy, and vicious creatures that 
they inevitably become where they are not held in bond- 
age. Bondage or barbarism seems to be their destiny — a 
destiny from which the Ethiopian race has furnished no 
exception in any country for a period of time long enough 
to constitute an epoch. The only idea of the free negro 
of liberty in Mexico, or elsewhere, is exemption from labor, 
and the privilege to be idle, vicious, and dishonest ; as to 
the mere sentiments of liberty, and the elevating conscious- 
ness of equality, they are incapable of the* former; and, for 
the latter, no such equality ever, did or ever will exist. 
There is a line which cannot be passed by any degree of 
talent, virtue, or accomplishment. The greater the degree 
of these, which, in rare individual instances, may exist, and 
the nearer their possessors may approach this impassable 
barrier, they are only the more miserable. This may be 
called prejudice, but it is a prejudice which exists '.yherever 
the Caucasian race is found ; and nowhere is it stronger 
than in Mexico. The negro is regarded and treated there 
as belonging to a degraded caste equally as in the United 
States ; much more so than in South Carolina ; in quite as 
great a degree as in Boston or Philadelphia. 

Whilst upon this subject, it may not be inappropriate 
to allude to tt»g system of servitude which prevails in 
Mexico — a syste^m immeasurably worse for the slave, in 
every aspect, than the institution of slavery in the United 



CHAP. I.] SYSTEM OF SERVITUDE IN MEXICO. 7 

States. The owners of the estates (haciendas) receive 
laborers into their service. These laborers are ignorant, 
destitute, half-naked Indians ; certain wages are agreed 
upon, which the employer pays in food, raiment, and such 
articles as are absolutely necessary ; an account is kept of 
all these things, and neither the laborer nor his family can 
ever leave the estate until all arrearages are paid. These 
of course, he has no means of paying but by the proceeds 
of his labor, which, being barely sufficient for his sub- 
sistence, he never can get free ; and he is not only a 
slave for life, but his children after him, unless the employer 
chooses to release him from his service, which he often finds 
it convenient to do when the laborer becomes old or dis- 
eased. Whatever may be the theoretical protection from 
corporal punishment which the law affords him, the Mexican 
slave is, practically, no better off in this respect than is the 
African slave in this country. All the laborers in Mexico are 
Indians ; all the large proprietors Spaniards, -or of mixed 
blood. I say all ; there may be a few exceptions, but 
they are very few of either. So of the army ; the higher 
officers are all white men, or of mixed blood, the soldiers 
all Indians. 

The cathedral in Vera Cruz is a very decent Gotliic 
building, with the same profusion of paintings and statuary 
which is to be found in all Mexican churches : making up 
in quantity what is wanting in quality. There may be seen 
there a wax figure of the Saviour laid in the tomb, of the life 
size, and singularly beautiful. There are three representa- 
tions of the crucifixion, as large as life, and of different shades 
of color, each retaining all the features and lineaments 
to which we are accustomed in the portraits of Christ, 
somewhat strangely combined with the peculiarities of 
the physiognomy of two of the three races which con- 



8 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO.. [cHAP. I, 

stitute the inhabitants of Vera Cruz — a pious fraud, no 
doubt intended to flatter each of those races for the good 
of their souls. 

A new and very handsome custom house has just been 
completed on the mole at Vera Cruz. The material of which 
it is built is brought from Quincy, in Massachusetts, although 
there is stone equally good within ten miles of Vera Cruz, — 
a fact strikingly illustrative of the characters of the people 
of the two countries. Such comparisons, or rather contrasts, 
are, indeed, constantly presented to the American* travel- 
ling in Mexico. 

Mexico was colonized just one hundred years before 
Massachusetts. Her first settlers were the noblest spirits 
of Spain in her Augustan age, the epoch of Cervantes, 
Cortes, Pizarro, Columbus, Gonzalvo de Cordova, Cardinal 
Ximenes, and the great and good Isabella. Massachusetts 
was settled by the poor pilgrims of Plymouth, who carried 
with them nothing but their own hardy virtues, and indomi- 
table energy. Mexico, with a rich soil, and a climate 
adapted to the production of everything which grows out 
of the earth, and possessing every metal used by man — 
Massachusetts, with a sterile soil and ungenial climate, and 
no single article for exportation but ice and rock — How 
have these blessings, profusely given by Providence, been 
improved on the one hand, and obstacles overcome on the 
other ? What is now the respective condition of the two 
countries ? In productive industry, wide-spread diffusion of 
knowledge, public institutions of every kind, general happi- 
ness, and continually increasing prosperity ; in letters, arts, 

* Whenever I use the term American, I mean a citizen of the United 
States : as when we say Bonaparte, we mean Napoleon ; and it is so under- 
stood everywhere. 



CHAP. I.] AMERICAN AND MEXICAN CONTRASTS. 9 

morals, religion ; in everything which makes a people great, 
there is not in the world, and there never was in the world, 
such a commonwealth as Massachusetts. " There she is ! 
look at her !" — and Mexico. 



CHAPTER II. 

Line of Stages between Vera Cruz and Mexico — Noble Disinterestedness of 
an American Stage Driver — Vera Cruz to Jalapa — Miscellaneous Hints 
— Property of Santa Anna in Jalapa — Great beauty of its situation — 
Perote. 

There is a very good line of stages, making three trips 
every w^eek betw^een Vera Cruz and Mexico, which has 
entirely superseded all other modes of conveyance. Al- 
though the fare is enormously high, yet it is much cheaper 
than the litera, more expeditious and on every account more 
pleasant — except that the literas are very rarely robbed. 
This line M^as established by an American some years since, 
but is now owned by a rich Mexican — who is daily grow- 
ing wealthier by it. The horses are all Mexican, generally 
small, but of great spirit and durability ; seven horses are 
generally driven, two at the wheels, then three abreast and 
two more in the lead. The stages are built at Troy, New 
York, and the drivers are all Americans — and a most wor- 
thy set of fellows they are. 

I cannot forbear to mention here a matter honorable to 
two of my countrymen. When the prisoners of the Texan 
Santa Fe expedition were liberated by General Santa Anna, 
in June, 1842, they were furnished with as much money as 
was supposed to be necessary to take them home. But 
being unable to procure a vessel, and consequently detained 
some time in Vera Cruz, they were without money or cre- 
dit, and in the midst of disease and death. Mr. L. S. 
Hargoos, an American merchant, with a liberality and hu- 



CHAP. II.] DISINTERESTEDNESS OF A STAGE DRIVER. 11 

manityof which few men would have been capable in like 
circumstances, advanced them between ten and fifteen 
thousand dollars. Some time afterwards he travelled to 
Mexico in the stage, and rode outside with the driver Nathan 
Gilland, a native of New York. Gilland asked him if it was 
true that he had advanced so large a sum to the Texans as 
he had heard. Mr. Hargoos told him that it was. 

The next morning about the time the stages were start- 
ing from Perote, the one returning to Jalapa, the other going 
to Mexico, Gilland took Mr. Hargoos aside and said to him, 
" Sir, I do not think it right that you should suffer all the 
loss by the Texans — you knew none of them and only 
relieved them because they were Americans ; now, I think 
it nothing but fair that all the Americans in Mexico should 
share the loss, and here are two hundred dollars which I 
am willing to give for my part of it." " Very well, Nathan," 
said Mr. Hargoos, " if I should ever stand in need of two 
hundred dollars, I will certainly call upon you." 

Foreigners ridicule the indiscriminate use which we make 
of the term gentleman, and its application to stage drivers 
and persons in similar stations in life. May it never be 
more abused than by its application to one capable of thus 
feeling and acting ! It would be unjust to the other Ame- 
rican drivers on the same line not to say that I do not doubt 
that every one of them would have done the same thing ; I 
do not believe that any one of them gave less than five hun- 
dred dollars and some of them twice that sum to the Texan 
prisoners during their confinement in Mexico. 

The stage leaves Vera Cruz at eleven o'clock at night, 
and arrives the next evening about three o'clock at Jalapa. 
For the first few miles from Vera Cruz the road passes 
along a sandy sea-beach, and then commences the ascent 
of the mountain which is continued almost without interrup- 



12 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. II. 

tion to Jalapa, and thence to Perote. The distance from 
Vera Cruz to Jalapa, as the road runs, is about seventy miles. 
In a direct line, it is probably not much more than one third 
of that distance. The road, considering the country through 
which it passes, is a very good one. It was constructed by 
the vice-royal government. The Puente Nacional (Na- 
tional Bridge), formerly called Puente del Rey (the King's 
Bridge), is a very handsome structure of stone. It would 
be so regarded anywhere, but it is all the more striking from 
the rareness of such works in Mexico, and it is the soli- 
tary object which relieves the universal appearance of wild- 
ness and desolation on the whole route from Vera Cruz 
to Jalapa. 

The habitations (for houses they are not) which are seen 
on the road side, at distances of fifteen and twenty miles 
from each other, resemble rather chicken coops than the 
abodes of human beings. They are constructed of canes 
about ten feet long, the large end resting on the ground, 
standing upright and wickered together in one or two places, 
and covered with the leaves of the palm tree. In the vil- 
lages the houses are generally small filthy hovels of ten or 
twelve feet square, built of unburnt bricks, with a small en- 
closure, in which the chili (red pepper), and a small patch of 
Indian corn for tortillas is cultivated. A Mexican village 
very closely resembles an American Indian village — with 
the difference that the Mexican hovels are built of brick 
instead of being log cabins. The same idleness, filth, and 
squalid poverty are apparent. 

The road for its entire extent from Vera Cruz to Jalapa, 
passes through the lands of General Santa Anna — which 
extend an immense distance on both sides of it ; much of this 
land is of good quality, and would produce cotton and sugar 
most profitably. Very little of it is in cultivation, with the 



CHAP. II.] JALAPA. 13 

trifling exception of the chili and corn patches. General 
Santa Anna owns immense herds of cattle, some forty or fifty 
thousand head, which graze upon it. He also permits others 
to graze their cattle upon his lands for a rent which they pay 
him ; I believe, forty dollars per annum for a hundred head. 

I do not know that I have ever seen a more beautiful spot 
than the city of Jalapa. When the atmosphere is clear you 
may see the shipping in the harbor of Vera Cruz with an 
ordinary spy-glass, and the white caps of the waves with 
the naked eye. The elevation of Jalapa above the sea is a 
little more than four thousand feet. It is situated on a shelf 
of the mountain ; the summit of which at Perote, a distance 
in a direct hne of about twenty miles, is still four thousand 
five hundred feet higher than Jalapa. The whole horizon, 
except in the direction of Vera Cruz, is bounded by moun- 
tains ; amongst them Orizaba, which is distant from Jalapa 
about twenty-five miles. But from the remarkable clear- 
ness of the atmosphere, and the sun shining upon the snow 
with which it is always covered, it does not seem to be five 
miles. All the tropical fruits grow there, and are cultivated 
with great care and taste. It is not exaggeration to say 
that it is impossible for one who has not been on the table- 
lands of Mexico to conceive of a climate so elysian. There 
is not a day and scarcely an hour in the year when one 
could say, I wish it were a little warmer or a little cooler. 
It is never warm enough to pull off your coat, and rarely 
cold enough to button it. 

No spot of the earth will be more desirable than this for 
a residence whenever it is in the possession of our race, with 
the government and laws which they carry with them 
wherever they go. The march of time is not more certain 
than that this will be, and probably at no distant day. 
Perote, the next town on the road, is thirty-five miles 



14 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. II. 

from Jalapa, and is eight thousand five hundred feet above 
the level of the sea. This name has been made familiar to 
American readers as the place of confinement of the Texan 
prisoners, and more recently of General Santa Anna himself. 
Its great elevation and the vicinity of the mountain of Ori- 
zaba make the climate uncomfortably cold at night ; the 
only region that I visited in Mexico vi^hich I found so. Its 
very large and strong military fortress is entirely useless 
now I should think, unless the constant succession of civil 
wars in that ill-fated country is never to end. 



CHAPTER III. 

Route to Puebla — Cultivation of the Soil — The Maguey — Pulque — Primitive 
Plough — Indifference to Agricultural Wealth — Robbers on the Road — 
Execution by the Garote — Gaming an Incentive to Robbery — Singular 
Story of a Robber. 

The stage leaves Perote a little before daylight and arrives 
at Puebla, a distance of eighty miles, before sundown. The 
road passes for nearly the whole distance over a broad 
plain, generally uncultivated, comparatively uninhabited, 
without a stick of timber and rarely a drop of running 
water. 

As you approach the city of Puebla, there are farms of 
considerable extent on both sides of the road. The grains 
chiefly cultivated are wheat, barley, and Indian corn. The 
wheat is used for bread by the better classes, and I have 
never seen better bread anywhere. The Indian corn is used 
chiefly, I believe entirely, by the Mexicans in making tor- 
tillas. There is not a corn-mill in Mexico. The tortilla is 
the bread, and the only bread of the great mass of the people. 
The grain is softened by soaking it in water, it is then ground 
on a smooth stone, with a long roller made also of stone ; 
and after mixing the due proportion — which is always a 
very large proportion of chili and some lime, it is spread out 
in a thin layer and cooked as we do the hoe cake. Corn is 
not used at all as food for horses ; the only grain used for 
that purpose is barley, and the only fodder is wheat straw 
— an article generally regarded by us as of little or no value 
for food. In this, I am satisfied that we are mistaken. I 
had a very large pair of American horses, and I was at first 



16 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. III. 

afraid that, however well the barley and wheat straw might 
agree with the Mexican horses, it was not substantial 
enough for mine. But I found that they became so fat upon 
it that I was obliged to curtail their allowance. 

Rye and oats are very little cultivated, if at all. I never 
saw a grain of either in Mexico. Much the most profit- 
able culture in Mexico is that of the plant maguey, or Agave 
Americana. The small ditches, which are the only 
fences, are all bordered' with it, and fields of large extent are 
also planted with it. The favorite drink of the Mexicans, 
pulque, is obtained from this plant. This beverage is, 
indeed, almost necessary to the existence of a Mexican ; 
and if obliged to part with either, he would give up his 
meat rather than his pulque. The maguey grows, in good 
land, to an enormous size, the centre stem very often 
twenty-five or thirty feet high, and twelve or fifteen inches 
in diameter at the bottom ; the branches a foot and a half 
wide, and four or five inches thick. When the plant is in 
its efflorescent state, which varies from seven to fifteen 
years from the planting, the centre stem is cut off" at the 
bottom, and a bowl made, in which the juice accumulates. 
This is extracted with a rude suction-pipe, made of a long 
gourd, which the Indian laborer applies to his mouth ; and 
when the gourd is filled, the contents are emptied into an 
ox-hide, dressed and made perfectly tight. There the liquor 
ferments, when it is drawn off" into smaller vessels made of 
the skin of a hog, and in these it is carried to market. The 
modern inventions of hogsheads and barrels have by no 
means come into common use in Mexico. These skins 
look for all the world like a hog cleaned and dressed. I 
saw them every day, hanging in front of the pulque shops 
as a sign, and I had been some time in Mexico before I dis- 
covered that they were really not porkers. One plant 



CHAP. III.] THE MAGUEY PULaUB. 17 

of the maguey often yields one hundred and fifty gallons. 
Baron Humboldt says that a single plant of the maguey will 
yield 452 cubic inches of liquor in twenty-four hours, and 
for four or five months, which would amount to nearly thrice 
the quantity I have stated. The pulque has very 
little strength— about as great as that of cider. Its smell is 
very much that of putrid meat, and is, of course, offensive 
to every one who drinks it for the first time ; but most 
persons hke it after they become accustomed to it. 

A short distance from Puebla, on the route to Mexico, 
the road passes for several miles through a very beautiful 
plain, and in cultivation as far as the eye can reach on 
either side of the road. These farms were a great deal the- 
best that I saw, both as to soil and cultivation ; and I should 
think, from the appearance of the wheat which was grow- 
ing, that it would have yielded twenty bushels to the acre. 

The system of agriculture in Mexico is, like everything 
else, so wretchedly bad, that it is impossible to form any 
accurate opinion of the productiveness of the soil, the more 
especially as, on the whole route from Vera Cruz to 
Mexico, with the exception of a very few places, and for 
very short distances, there are no trees nor other natural 
growth but a few scrubby bushes, some palms, and the 
almost innumerable varieties of the cactus. The whole 
country is of manifestly volcanic formation, at least the 
upper strata. I have never been at any place where some 
species of lava was not presented, and in infinite varieties, 
some having very much the resemblance of cinders just 
taken from an iron furnace ; others so entirely petrified as to 
have little of the appearance of lava, except by their porous- 
ness. The soil is generally, I think, not very rich. In 
many places, such as the plain of which I have been speak- 
mg, the land is very good ; nowhere, however, to be com- 



18 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. in. 

pared with our richest oak and hickory lands. The plough 
in universal use is that used two thousand years ago — 
neither more nor less than a wooden wedge, without a par- 
ticle of iron attached to it. The hoe is a wooden staff, 
with an iron spike in the end. What is still more remark- 
able, the only animal used in ploughing is the ox ; a planter, 
with twenty thousand horses and mules (by no means an 
unusual number), will only use his oxen in the plough. If 
you ask why this is, the only answer I can give is, that the 
Spaniard never changes his habits, nor anything else but 
.his government. All the passion for change which exists 
in other men, with him is concentrated in political 
-changes. 

It is this peculiar characteristic which has tended more 
■than any and every other cause to produce the present 
degraded condition of Spain. At the beginning of the six- 
teenth century, Spain might justly be regarded as the most 
powerful of the nations of the earth ; she had not only ex- 
ipelled the Moors, but had conquered a large portion of 
Africa ; discovered America, and was in possession of its 
untold and seemingly exhaustless treasures, with a galaxy 
of great men, which all the rest of the world could scarcely 
equal. What is she now ? a bye- word amongst the na- 
tions ; whilst other countries have been moving on in a 
-constant career of improvements in every way, she has 
folded her arms in sullen pride ; and, as she has refused to 
advance, she has of necessity retrograded, for nations can- 
not long remain stationary. 

I believe that it is true, and it is most remarkable if true, 
that there is not in the world such a thing as a railroad in 
any country where the Spanish language is spoken, with 
the exception of a short one in Cuba,'which owes its exist- 
ence to American enterprise. During my residence in 



CHAP. III.] INDIFFERENCE TO AGRICULTURAL WEALTH. 19 

Mexico, constantly as the contrast between everything 
there and in my own country was presented to me, the 
feehngs which were excited were not so much of pride and 
exultation in our own happier destiny, and superiority in 
everything, as the more generous one of a profound sym- 
pathy for the wretched condition of a country upon which 
a bountiful Providence has showered its blessings with a 
more profuse hand than upon any other upon the face of 
the earth. Whilst in our cities and towns you hear the 
busy hum of incessant industry, and the shrill whistle of the 
steam-engine, there you hear nothing but the drum and fife ; 
"whilst we have been making railroads, they have been 
making revolutions. 

A more striking proof of the unconquerable repugnance 
of the Mexican to labor cannot be given, than the fact that 
short staple cotton sells there at from forty to forty-five 
cents per pound, while they have lands and climate as well 
adapted to its culture as ours, and these lands dirt cheap ; 
yet they never make enough for their own small consump- 
tion. The importation of cotton is positively forbidden by 
law ; but this law is often relaxed, by selling the privilege 
to mercantile companies to import a certain number of bales. 
If such prices could be obtained at home, our northern 
people would discover some plan of raising it profitably in 
hot-houses. 

Although the whole road from the city of Vera Cruz to 
the city of Mexico passes through a country inexpressibly 
picturesque and beautiful, yet the ignorant, idle, and de- 
graded population, the total absence of cultivation and 
improvement, and a general appearance of wildness and 
desolation, produced with me feelings partaking of gloom 
and melancholy. Neither in going nor returning did I see 
one human being, man, woman, or child, engaged at work of 



20 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. III. 

any sort. The great mass of the population doze out their 
lives with no higher thoughts or purposes than the beasts 
which perish around them. 

The reader will, doubtless, be surprised that I have 
brought him thus far without any mention of robbers. I 
was neither robbed nor attacked by robbers. For the first 
two or three stages from Vera Cruz, I took an escort with 
me, a corporal and four privates ; but happening at one of 
the places where the horses were changed to examine their 
arms, I found that only one of the carbines — a musket 
about two feet long — had a lock in good order, and 
that one not being loaded, I dismissed the guard and had 
no escort afterwards except at one or two points on the 
road. I had with me, however, a much more reliable 
defence in three young Americans who accompanied me, 
who, together with myself and servant, were all well arm- 
ed. So, doubtless, thought the robbers, for on two or three 
occasions we met with them, but were not attacked. 
They never attack the stage when two or three of the pas- 
sengers are foreigners, and are known to be armed. When 
the stage stops for the night, or to change horses, some one 
of the robbers examines the baggage, and if it promises a 
rich booty and the passengers have the appearance of soft 
customers, they are certain to be attacked before the stage 
has gone five miles. But if the passengers are armed and 
there is a prospect of resistance, the robbers wait for an 
easier prey ; they wisely calculate that some one of them 
may be killed, and each of them knows that that one may 
be himself — upon the same principle that one brave man 
armed often repels a mob. 

At one of the little villages where we changed horses, I 
was very much struck with the dashing and picturesque 
appearance of a man who rode by, richly and gaudily dress- 



CHAP. III.] ROBBERS ON THE ROAD. 21 

ed, on a fine horse gaily caparisoned. I asked the stage 
driver if he knew him ; he said that he did, and that he was 
the captain of a band of robbers who had plundered the 
stage several times since he had been driving. I asked him 
why he had not informed against him and had him punish- 
ed ; he replied, that if he had done so he certainly would have 
been shot by some others of the band the next time he had 
passed the road, and I have no doubt that he would have 
been, for nowhere is the maxim of " honor amongst thieves " 
more rigidly adhered to than amongst Mexican thieves. 
There have been frequent instances of robbers, who had 
been convicted, being offered a pardon upon the condi- 
tion that they would discover the names of their con- 
federates, which offers they have firmly rejected, and sub- 
mitted to the certain alternative of the punishment of death. 
I expected that we should have been attacked, but we were 
not, the robber-captain rightly judging that the booty to be 
gained was not worth the danger. The Mexicans, when they 
travel, never arm themselves, thinking it better to take but 
little with them, and to surrender that quietly, than to have 
a scene on the route. The road, a few miles from Perote, 
ascends a very high mountain, where the passengers gene- 
rally get out of the stage and walk. Some of my companions 
had left their weapons in the stage ; I directed them to go 
back and get them. It was very well that they did ; for, 
as we were ascending the mountain, we met three or four 
ill-looking rascals, who the driver said were robbers ; if 
they had not seen the arms in our hands, we should cer- 
tainly have been attacked. In less than a month after this, 
five or six Americans left their arms in the stage at this 
same p\ace, and they were robbed of everything they had 
with them. The morning that we left Perote, just about 
daylight, I was riding outside with the driver, when I saw 



22 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. III. 

a horseman approaching the stage on my right hand ; he 
followed us for a short distance, gradually diminishing the 
space between us. I knew that he must be one of a robber 
band, and raised my double-barrelled gun so that he could 
see it, when he immediately rode away through the path- 
less plain, and 1 confess I was rejoiced that he did so ; for, 
although I knew that my party were more than a match 
for any ordinary band of robbers, which generally consists 
of five or six — rarely more than ten or twelve — yet I had 
no ambition for the eclat of a successful encounter with 
robbers, and no wish to have blood upon my hands, even 
if it should be the blood of a highwayman. I have passed 
through few scenes more exciting ; dashing along at a 
rapid rate over the elevated plain of Perote, on one side 
the white peak of Orizaba towering in the clouds above us, 
on the other a robber chief with his band near at hand, and 
our Mexican escort a little in the rear on their small, Arab- 
looking horses, with their not less Arab-looking riders ; and 
never did the Bedouin of the desert hold a firmer or more 
graceful seat. The scene v/as altogether picturesque ; but 
picturesque as it was, I had no desire that it should be 
repeated, and it was not. 

At the period of my arrival in Mexico, the stage was 
robbed almost every trip ; but, before I left there. General 
Santa Anna, with his characteristic energy, had nearly 
cleared the road of banditti. No efforts were spared to 
discover them, and he never pardoned one after conviction. 
I witnessed the execution of one of them by the garote, a 
description of which may not be uninteresting. The execu- 
tion took place early in the morning, in the yard of the 
Acordada prison. There was a very large concourse, and 
amongst them many persons of great respectability ; others 
beside myself of the diplomatic corps, carried there no 



CHAP. III.] EXECUTION BY THE GAROTB. 23 

doubt, as I was, by curiosity. The convict, dressed in a 
white gown, was placed on a wooden bench with a high 
back, Kke a barber's chair. Through this back the ends of 
an iron collar passed, to which a crank was attached ; the 
neck of the convict was placed in this collar, and a single 
turn of the crank caused instant death. Nothing could be 
more tender and affectionate than the manner of the priests 
who were in attendance. Kindness and benevolence, how- 
ever, in all their forms, are striking traits in the Mexican 
character, as, I think, they are of the Catholic clergy every- 
where. 

No other country presents equal temptations and facili- 
ties to highwaymen to those which exist in Mexico. The 
road from Vera Cruz to Mexico is the great highway for 
travelling and commerce. Nearly all the commerce on the 
Atlantic side enters the port of Vera Cruz, and not five per 
cent, of the travellers to the city pass any other route. 
Much the greater portion of the road passes through an 
uninhabited desert. In many places the road is cut 
through the side of the mountain, and bordered on both 
sides with a dense evergeen shrubbery, furnishing as secure 
hiding-places as the everglades of Florida. 

With the general population of the country lazy, igno- 
rant, and, of course, vicious and dishonest, there is no lack 
of recruits for the road. Most frequently, however, the 
chief, and sometimes all of the band, live in the towns and 
cities. Perhaps the most powerful incentive to robbery is 
to be found in the insatiable and, as it would seem with the 
lower classes of Mexicans, constitutional passion for gam- 
ing, and the entire absence of all restraint in its indulgence. 
Men go to the monte tables with thousands, and leave them 
pennyless. They know that the stage will pass certain 
points at certain hours ; the idea occurs to the unfortunate 



24 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. III. 

gambler to try his hand at another game, where the chances 
of winning are greater, as are also the consequences of 
losing much more serious ; and the thing is done almost 
as soon as the thought occurs. 

Shortly before I left Mexico, the stage was robbed near 
Puebla. The robbers all had the dress and bearing of 
gentlemen. When the operation of rifling the pockets and 
trunks of the passengers was finished, one of the robbers 
said to them, — " Gentlemen, we would not have you to sup- 
pose that we are robbers by profession ; we are gentlemen 
[somos caballeros], but we have been unfortunate at monte, 
and that has forced upon us the necessity of thus incom- 
moding you, for which we beg that you will pardon us." 
Innumerable are the stories of robberies which one hears in 
Mexico, some of them of thrilling interest and romantic 
character. The case of Colonel Yanes, who was executed 
a few years since, is full of incidents of a character deeply 
dramatic. I will briefly sketch them as they were told to 
me. 

The Swiss consul resided in the street of St. Cosme. 
About twelve or one o'clock in the daytime, a carriage 
drove up to his door, and three men got out, one in the 
dress of a priest ; they were admitted by the porter, and 
the door closed, when they immediately seized and gsigged 
him, went into the house, and robbed and murdered the 
consul. The only clue for the discovery of the murderers 
was a metal button with a small piece of blue cloth at- 
tached to it, which was found clenched in the fingers of the 
murdered man, and which he had torn from the coat of one 
of the robbers. Suspicion at last rested upon a soldier who 
was seen with more money than he could account for. 
His quarters were searched, and the coat from which the 
button had been torn was found there. He was convicted, 



CHAP. III.} SINGULAR STORY OF A ROBBER. 25 

but he relied with the utmost confidence upon a pardon, as 
Colonel Yanes, the favorite aide-de-camp of President Santa 
Anna, was his accomplice. He was brought out to be 
executed, and had actually taken his seat on the fatal bench, 
with the collar placed around his neck, and the crank 
about to be turned, when he said — " Hold ! I will disclose 
who are my accomplices — Colonel Yanes is the chief!" 
The execution was suspended, and on searching the house 
of Yanes, a correspondence in cipher was discovered which 
fully established his guilt in this and in other robberies. 
Yanes was the paramour of a woman in Mexico very 
nearly related to one whose word was law, and whose in- 
fluence over her relative was known to be very great, and 
upon that reliance was placed for a pardon, at least ; but 
she was not disposed to trust to that, and let her lover 
suffer the disgrace of conviction — she went to the judge 
with whom the cipher had been deposited, which fur- 
nished the evidence of the guilt of Yanes, and offered 
him a large bribe to give it up. He was an honest man 
and an upright judge ; he sternly refused the bribe, and 
firmly resisted the menaces of this powerful woman. In a 
day or two he died suddenly, as all supposed, of poison. A 
successor was appointed of principles less stern, who ac- 
cepted the bribe, and promised to destroy the paper ; but 
when, in confession to his priest, he disclosed his corrupt 
conduct, the worthy man prevailed upon him, if he had 
not destroyed the paper, not to do so, and he did not. 
Yanes, in the meantime, was informed that this evidence 
would not be produced against him, and that the prosecu- 
tion would rest entirely upon the testimony of his accom- 
plice. Upon the trial, with the habitual air of command of 
an officer, and the habitual fear and submission of the 
common soldier, Yanes browbeat and confused his accuser 



26 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. III. 

to such a degree, that he felt secure of an acquittal. At 
this moment the fatal paper was produced, and he was con- 
demned and executed. His not less guilty paramour still 
resides in the city of Mexico. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Puebla the Lowell of Mexico — Obstacles to Manufactures — City of Cho- 
lula — Incredibility of Cortes' Narrative— First sight of the Valley of 
Mexico — Description of the Valley — Neglect of resources in the supply 
of the Capital — Arrieros. 

Puebla is a beautiful city, with lofty houses, built in the 
purest style of architecture, and broad and remarkably 
clean streets. Its police is greatly superior to that of 
Mexico. The cathedral of Puebla is a magnificent edifice, 
which has been said, though hardly with justice, to rival 
the cathedral in Mexico. Peubla is the Lowell of Mexico. 
The principal cotton manufactories are located there, and 
some of them in very successful operation, which can be 
said of very few others. The English and other foreign 
merchants had, in 1842, either by the force of argument or 
some more potential influence, induced the President to con- 
sent to the admission, on more favorable terms, of coarse 
cotton goods ; but the united and violent opposition of the 
manufacturers of Peubla defeated the arrangement. I 
said that very few of these establishments in Mexico were 
prosperous, or ever have been, although the price of an 
article of cotton goods is in Mexico thirty cents a yard, 
which sells in the United States for six cents. This results 
from many causes, which appear insuperable. The first 
of these is the high price of the raw material, which ranges 
from forty to fifty cents per pound, and in such articles as 
coarse cottons, the raw material constitutes the chief 
element of value. The importation of raw cotton is abso- 



28 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. IV. 

lutely prohibited, and the tariff policy in Mexico, as in all 
other countries, rests upon a combination of different in- 
terests which are benefited by it ; and although neither the 
manufacturers nor the cotton growers constitute a numerous 
class in Mexico, yet their combined influence with the aid 
of the catch- words " National independence, home indus- 
try," &c., which have had so much power in a much 
more enlightened country than Mexico, are all-sufficient 
to sustain the prohibitory system — by which a Mexican 
pays for one shirt a sum that would buy him five in 
any other country. Another immense disadvantage of 
the Mexican manufacturer is, that all his machinery is im- 
ported and transported by land at enormous cost — and when 
any portion of it gets out of order, the difficulty and delay 
of repairing it, and the consequent loss, are incalculable. 
There are many other reasons which will always make the 
business of manufacturing unprofitable in Mexico. It is 
needless, however, to prove this by argument when the 
universal experience and the results of experiments made 
under the most favorable circumstances, all confirm that 
opinion. However tempting to such an investment may 
be the high prices of the manufactured articles, those high 
prices are equally tempting to smuggling in a country with 
ten thousand miles of frontier and sea-board. There is, 
perhaps, no other country where the receipts of the custom- 
house are so little to be relied on as to the amount of im- 
portations, and where smuggling is carried to so great an 
extent ; even where goods are regularly imported, innumer- 
able frauds are practised both by and upon the custom- 
house officers. 

The great city of Cholula, of which both Cortes and Ber- 
nal Dias give such glorious descriptions, was situated about 
six miles from the present city of Puebla. The following 



CHAP. IV.] CITY OF CHOLULA. 29 

translation of the description which Cortes gives of the city 
of Cholula in one of his letters may not be uninteresting : — 

" The great city of Cholula is situated in a plain and has twenty 
thousand householders in the body of the city, besides as many more in 
the suburbs. There is not a palm's breadth of land which is not culti- 
vated, notwithstanding which, there is in many places much suffering 
for bread. The people of this city dress better than the Tlascalans. The 
most respectable of the citizens wear something like a Moorish cloak 
over their other clothes, but somewhat different, as those worn here have 
pockets ; yet in the shape, the cloth and the fringe, there is much 
resemblance to those worn in Africa." 

He adds that he had himself counted the towers of more 
than four hundred idol temples. The account of Beriial 
Dias, although more brief, yet represents it as a populous 
and most extraordinary city, and he adds, that it was 
famous for the manufacture of the finest crockery-ware, as 
in Castile were the cities of Talavera and Palencia. The 
city of Puebla is at this day equally celebrated for the same 
manufacture. 

It was here that the terrible slaughter was committed 
which has left the deepest stain upon the otherwise glorious 
and wonderful character of Cortes. The Cholulans had 
received him with every demonstration of friendship into 
their city, and had afterwards concerted a plan to destroy 
all the Spaniards ; this plot was discovered through the 
address and sagacity of that miracle of a woman Dona 
Marina, the Indian interpreter of Cortes, whose great 
qualities throw into the shade our own Pocahontas. Much 
allowance is to be made for the circumstances with which 
the Spanish hero was surrounded, with only about five 
hundred men in the midst of a powerful, warlike and hostile 



30 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. IV. 

people.* Not a vestige, literally none, — not a brick or a 
stone standing upon another remains of this immense city, 
except the great pyramid which still stands in gloomy and 
solitary grandeur in the vast plain which surrounds it, — " and 
there it will stand for ever." This pyramid is built of unburnt 
bricks ; its dimensions, as given by Humboldt, are, base 
1440 feet, present height 177, area on the summit 45,210 
square feet. The base is greatly out of proportion with its 
height, if compared with the Egyptian or other similar 
Mexican piles. All other pyramids of which we have any 
account are carried up to a point, and have not the same 
large area upon the summit ; from which, I think that it 
may well be supposed that it was once of much greater eleva- 
tion, or that to render it such was the original design of the 
builders. A Catholic chapel now crowns the summit of this 
immense mound, the sides of which are covered with grass 
and small trees. As seen for miles along the road, an artifi- 
cial mountain standing in the solitude of a vast plain, it is 
a most imposing and beautiful object. 

A short distance after leaving Puebla the road for several 
miles passes through the beautiful cultivated plain of which 
I have heretofore spoken. This vast plain, all of which is in 
cultivation, extends on each side of the road as far as the 
eye can reach. The farms, in the quality of the soil, houses, 
fixtures and cultivation, are greatly superior to any others 
which I saw in Mexico. To the right lies the territory of 
the great RepubHc of Tlascala, which first offered such 
fierce resistance and afterwards gave such important assist- 
ance to Cortes jn the conquest of Mexico. It is difficult to 
reconcile the accounts given by Cortes and Bernal Dias, 

* At the end of this volume will be found a translation of Bernal Dias' 
account of this affair. 



CHAP. IV.] INCREDIBILITY OF CORTEs' NARRATIVE. 31 

of the immense population of the city and country of Tlas- 
cala with the very small territory w^hich they occupied. 
Cortes says, " The territory of Tlascala contains a popula- 
tion of five hundred thousand householders, not including 
the adjoining province of Guasincango." " This city," says 
he, " is so large and contains so many w^onderful things, that 
I must leave much untold ; the little which I shall relate is 
almost incredible, because it is a much larger and a much 
stronger city than Granada, the houses as good and the popu- 
lation much greater than was that of Granada at the period 
of its conquest, and much better provided with the produc- 
tions of the earth, such as bread, &c. There is a market 
where more than thirty thousand people daily assemble and 
buy and sell, &c., &c. There are houses where they wash 
and shave the head like barbers ; they have baths also. 
Finally, th.ey have in all respects good order and police, 
and are altogether a civilized people." In one of Cortes' battles 
with them they brought into the field one hundred and fifty 
thousand warriors. It is difficult to conceive how a terri- 
tory not more than fifty miles long and thirty wide, 
and with the state of agriculture at that time, could have 
sustained such an enormous population ; but the difficulty 
is in some degree removed when we reffect that they had 
no horses nor other domestic animals. 

With all my admiration of Cortes, and it is very great, 
I must confess to some little incredulity when I read such 
accounts as the following. Speaking of his battles with the 
Tlascalans, he says : — 

" And thus they drew us on, while engaged in fighting, until we found 
ourselves \_about Jive hundred Spaniards] in the midst of more than one 
hundred thousand warriors, who surrounded us on all sides. The battle 
lasted the whole day, until an hour before sunset, when they drew off. 
In this contest, with six pieces of ordnance, five or six hand guns, forty 



32 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. IV. 

archers, and thirteen horsemen that remained with me, I did them much 
injury, without suffering from them any other inconvenience than the labor 
and fatigue of fighting and hunger. And it truly seemed that God fought 
on our side, since with such a multitude of the enemy opposed to us, 
who discovered so great courage and skill in the use of arms, of which 
they had many kinds, we nevertheless came off unhurt. 

" Afterwards, at daylight, more than one hundred and fifty thousand 
men, who covered the land, made an attack in so determined a manner 
upon our camp, that some of them forced an entrance and engaged the 
Spaniards at the point of the sword, when it pleased our Lord to aiFord 
us his aid to such a degree, that in four hours they no longer annoyed us 
in our camp, although they still continued their attacks ; and thus we 
were engaged until evening, when the enemy at length drew off." 

Again not a Spaniard killed or wounded ! Nothing that 
we read in the most extravagant romances equals this ; all 
the fictions of the Orlando Furioso ; all the achievements 
of the " furious Roland," are quite feasible compared with 
this. These Spaniards must not only have had the charmed 
armor of some of Ariosto's heroes, but a " charmed life" 
also. 

One cannot pass through this now barren and almost 
desolate region, and in sight of the mountain of Malinche, 
where once stood the capital of the renowned Republic of 
Tlascala, without his thoughts recurring to its former great- 
ness and power, and its heroic and faithful people. The 
road passes within about twenty miles of the mountain of 
Pococatapetl, the highest point of the territory of Mexico ; 
but the brightness of the atmosphere, and a tropical sun 
shining upon the snow with which it is always covered, 
make the distance seem very much shorter, not indeed 
more than one or two miles. In descending the mountain 
at about the distance of twenty-five miles, the first glimpse 
is caught of the city and valley of Mexico. No descrip- 
tion can convey to the reader any adequate idea of the 



CHAP. IV.] FIRST SIGHT OF THE VALLEY OF MEXICO. 33 

effect upon one who, for the first time, beholds that magni- 
ficent propect. With what feelings must Cortes have re- 
garded it when he first saw it from the top of the mountain 
between the snow-covered volcanoes of Popocateptl and 
Iztaccihuatl, a short distance to the left of where the road 
now runs ! The valley was not then, as it is now, for the 
greater part a barren waste, but was studded all over with 
the homes of men, containing more than forty cities, besides 
towns and villages without number. Never has such a 
vision burst upon the eyes of mortal man since that upon 
which the seer of old looked down from Pisgah. 

The road enters the basin of the lake some sixteen or 
eighteen miles from Mexico. On the right hand is the salt 
lake of Tezcuco, on the left the fresh water lake of Chalco. 
During the rainy season, the road, for the whole extent of 
the valley, is miry and deep. Seven miles from the city 
the road passes a small rocky mountain, for which the 
Spanish word is " Pinol," and that is the name which this 
bears. From that point to the city, the ground on both 
sides of the causeway is, at all seasons, covered with water. 
According to Humboldt, one-tenth of the valley is still 
covered with the water of the lakes Tezcuco, Chalco, Ho- 
chimieco, Zampango, and San Christoval, and a much 
larger portion during the rainy season. When the water 
subsides, large deposits of salt are left on the surface, pre- 
senting very much the appearance of a reclaimed marsh 
covered with frost. This is the salt which is generally 
used by the Mexicans. The city does not stand, as I have 
seen it represented, in the centre of the valley, but near the 
north-eastern part of it, not more than three miles from the 
mountains, in the direction of the village of Guadaloupe. 
Cortes gives to the valley a circumference of two hundred 
miles, meaning, no doubt, at the crest of the mountains. 
3 



34 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. IV. 

Clavigero. a much later, and, on this subject, more reliable 
authority, fixes it at one hundred and twenty miles, at the 
lowest point of elevation. The latitude is 19° 26^ and lon- 
gitude 276° 34^ ; and its elevation above the level of the 
sea 7,470 feet. The appearance of the valley is that of an 
oval basin, surrounded on all sides with mountains of every 
degree of elevation, and every variety of appearance, from 
the Pinolis (little rugged promontories) to Pococatapell, the 
highest mountain in Mexico, and, I believe, the highest upon 
this continent, and covered with perpetual snow, ten thousand 
four hundred feet higher than the city itself As you ap- 
proach the city from the direction of Vera Cruz, there are a 
few small mountains scattered over the valley, of a conical 
shape, and manifestly formed by the eruptions of the neigh- 
boring volcanoes of Pococatapetl and Iztaccihuatl. In every 
other direction the valley is a level plain ; it might almost be 
called a barren waste. From the small patches in cultiva- 
tion, the soil appears rich and productive ; I have seen 
very fine wheat and Indian corn growing, even with Mexi- 
can cultivation. The average production is said to be 
twenty bushels of wheat to the acre ; yet of this rich val- 
ley, in the midst of which is a city of near two hundred 
thousand inhabitants, not one acre in a hundred is culti- 
vated ; it is used almost exclusively for grazing. Each 
proprietor has his farm enclosed by a small ditch, upon the 
banks of which the Agave Americana is planted, with large 
herds of indifferent cattle grazing upon pastures as indif- 
ferent. If this magnificent valley were occupied by a popu- 
lation from this country, there is not a foot of it that would 
not be cultivated like a garden, and nowhere would the 
care and industry of the farmer meet a richer reward. The 
city of Mexico alone would furnish a market for its products 
of milk, butter, cheese, fruits, vegetables, meats, corn, wheat, 



CHAP. IV.] SUPPLY OF THE CAPITAL. 35 

&c. In short, every production of the earth which man 
uses could be advantageously produced there, and readily 
sold at high prices. 

The city is, however, actually supplied with every arti- 
cle of this kind from a much greater distance ; coals, vege- 
tables, poultry, and other articles of no very great weight, 
are brought in panniers on the backs of half-naked Indians. 
The heavier articles, and even plank and scantling, are 
packed on mules or jackasses, and brought from forty to 
fifty miles. A carpenter lived next door to me, and seeing 
some jackasses loaded with planks twenty feet long, and 
very thick, eight of them on each of the very small ani- 
mals, four on either side, I was induced to inquire what 
distance they had been brought, and I found that it was 
nearly sixty miles — the greater part of the way through the 
mountains. The load of each jackass could not have been 
worth more than three or four dollars. Wagons are never 
used by the Mexicans. Some of the English mining com- 
panies use them for the transportation of their machinery, 
and there are a few others in use by foreigners. Nearly 
all the European goods of every description, which are 
consumed in the central departments of Mexico, and a large 
portion of those sold in the remoter districts, are landed 
in Vera Cruz, and carried on mules and jackasses to 
the city of Mexico, and thence distributed throughout 
the Republic. 

Travelling from Vera Cruz to Mexico, you are scarcely 
ever out of sight of caravans of arrieros (muleteers) going 
and returning. It is the mode of transportation to which 
they have been accustomed, and nothing can induce them 
to change it. A Frenchman, some few years since, estab- 
lished a line of wagons on the route, and died whilst I was 
in Mexico leaving a fortune of some four hundred thousand 



36 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. IV. 

dollars — all of which he had made from a very small begin- 
ning — yet no one was disposed to continue the business. 
They are satisfied with what they have been accustomed 
to in all things ; and perhaps in this particular instance they 
have reason to be, for these muleteers make a great deal of 
money. The load of each mule or jackass is four hundred 
pounds, for the freight of which from Vera Cruz to Mexico 
they receive five dollars the hundred pounds, and the 
mules subsist on the coarsest and scantiest food, such 
as straw and the short grass of those almost barren 
plains where they turn them out to graze at night. The 
arrieros are as a class, stout, hardy, and honest men ; they 
are never robbed, and »are always faithful and honest — 
indeed I think all similar classes in Mexico are quite as 
honest as they are elsewhere. It has happened to me in 
more instances than one that on purchasing in a shop some 
small articles, I have paid what I supposed was the price 
but which was in fact more, the change has been returned 
to me ; and, in some instances, the shopkeeper would follow 
me into the street to give it to me. 



CHAPTER V. 

The City of Mexico— The Palace— Cathedral— Wealth of the Church- 
Masses, a Productive System of Revenue — The Streets and Buildings of 
Mexico — Curious Position of Stables — Inundations of the City. 

The city of Mexico is said to be the finest built city on the 
American Continent. In some respects it certainly is so. 
In the principal streets the houses are all constructed 
according to the strictest architectural rules. The founda- 
tions of the city were laid, and the first buildings were 
erected by Cortes, who did everything well which he 
attempted, — from building a house or writing a couplet to 
conquering an empire. Many of the finest buildings in 
Mexico are still owned by his descendants. The public 
square is said to be unsurpassed by any in the world ; it 
contains some twelve or fifteen acres paved with stone. 
The cathedral covers one entire side, the palace 
another ; the western side is occupied by a row^ of 
very high and substantial houses, the second stories of 
which project into the street the width of the pavement ; 
the lower stories are occupied by the principal retail mer- 
chants of the city. The most of these houses were built 
by Cortes, who, with his characteristic sagacity and an 
avarice which equally characterized him in the latter part 
of his life, selected the best portion of the city for himself. 

The President's Palace, formerly the palace of the vice- 
roys, is an immense building of three stories high, about five 
hundred feet in length, and three hundred and fifty wide ; 
it stands on the site of the palace of Montezuma. It is dif- 



38 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. V. 

ficult to conceive of so much stone and mortar being put 
together in a less tasteful and imposing shape ; it has much 
more the appearance of a cotton factory or a penitentiary, 
than what it really is ; the windows are small and a parapet 
wall runs the whole length of the building, with nothing to 
relieve the monotony of its appearance except some very 
indifferent ornamental work jn the centre ; there are no 
doors in the front either of the second or third stories — ^no- 
thing but disproportionately small windows, and too many 
of them ; the three doors, and there are only three in the 
lower story, are destitute of all architectural beauty or 
ornament. Only a very small part of this palace is appro- 
priated to the residence of the President ; all the public 
offices are here, including those of the heads of the different 
departments ; ministers of war, foreign relations, finance and 
justice, the public treasury, &c,, &c. The halls of the 
house of deputies and of the senate are also in the same 
building, and last and least, the botanic garden. After pass- 
ing through all sorts of filth and dirt on the basement story 
you come to a dark narrow passage which conducts you to 
a massive door, which, when you have succeeded in open- 
ing, you enter an apartment enclosed with high walls on 
every side but open at the top, and certainly not exceeding 
eighty feet square, and this is the botanic garden of the palace 
of Mexico ; a few shrubs and plants and the celebrated ma- 
nita-tree, are all that it contains. I have rarely in my life 
seen a more gloomy and desolate looking place. It is much 
more like a prison than a garden. A decrepit, palsied old 
man, said to be more than a hundred years old, is the 
superintendent of the establishment ; no one could have 
been selected more in keeping with the general dilapidation 
and dreariness of this melancholy affair. 

But the cathedral, which occupies the site of the great 



CHAP, v.] THE CATHEDRAL. 39 

idol temple of Montezuma, offers a striking contrast. It is 
five hundred feet long by four hundred and twenty wide. 
It would be superfluous to add another to the many descrip- 
tions of this famous building which have already been pub- 
lished. Like all the other churches in Mexico, it is built in 
the Gothic style. The walls, of several feet thickness, are 
made of unhewn stone and lime. Upon entering it, one is 
apt to recall the wild fictions of the Arabian Nights ; it 
seems as if the wealth of empires was collected there. The 
clergy in Mexico do not, for obvious reasons, desire that 
their wealth should be made known to its full extent ; they 
are, therefore, not disposed to give very full information 
upon the subject, or to exhibit the gold and silver vessels, 
vases, precious stones, and other forms of wealth ; quite 
enough is exhibited to strike the beholder with wonder. 
The first object that presents itself on entering the cathe- 
dral is the altar, near the centre of the building ; it is made 
of highly-wrought and highly-poUshed silver, and covered 
with a profusion of ornaments of pure gold. On each side 
of this altar runs a balustrade, enclosing a space about eight 
feet wide and eighty or a hundred feet long. The balusters 
are about four feet high, and four inches thick in the largest 
part; the handrail from six to eight inches wide. Upon 
the top of this handrail, at the distance of six or eight feet 
apart, are human images, beautifully wrought, and about 
two feet high. All of these, the balustrade, handrail, and 
images, are made of a compound of gold, silver, and cop- 
per — more valuable than silver*. I was told that an offer 
had been made to take this balustrade, and replace it with 
another of exactly the same size and workmanship of pure 
silver, and to give half a milUon of dollars besides. There 
is much more of the same balustrade in other parts of the 
church ; I should think, in all of it, not less than three hun- 
dred feet. 



40 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. V. 

As you walk through the building, on either side there 
are different apartments, all filled, from the floor to the 
ceiling, with paintings, statues, vases, huge candlesticks, 
waiters, and a thousand other articles, made of gold or sil- 
ver. This, too, is only the every day display of articles of 
least value ; the more costly are stored away in chests 
and closets. What must it be when all these are brought 
out, with the immense quantities of precious stones which 
the church is known to possess ? And this is only one of the 
churches of the city of Mexico, where there are between 
sixty and eighty others, and some of them possessing little 
less wealth than the cathedral ; and it must also be remem- 
bered, that all the other large cities, such as Pucbla, Guada- 
lajara, Guanajuato, Zacatecas, Durango, San Louis, Potosi, 
have each a proportionate number of equally gorgeous esta- 
blishments. It would be the wildest and most random con- 
jecture to attempt an estimate of the amount of the precious 
metals thus withdrawn from the useful purposes of the cur- 
rency of the world, and wasted in these barbaric ornaments, 
as incompatible with good taste as they are with the 
humility which was the most striking feature in the charac- 
ter of the founder of our religion, whose chosen instru- 
ments were the lowly and humble, and who himself regarded 
as the highest evidence of his divine mission, the fact that 
" to the poor the gospel was preached." I do not doubt but 
there is enough of the precious metals in the different 
churches of Mexico to relieve sensibly the pressure upon the 
currencyof the world, which has resulted from the diminished 
production of the mines, and the increased quantity which 
has been appropriated to purposes of luxury, and to pay the 
cost of much more tasteful decorations in architecture and 
statuary, made of mahogany and marble. 

But the immense wealth which is thus collected in the 



CHAP, v.] MASSES. 41 

churches, is not by any means all, or even the larger por- 
tion, of the wealth of the Mexican church and clergy. 
They own very many of the finest houses in Mexico and 
other cities (the rents of which must be enormous), besides 
valuable real estates all over the Republic. Almost every 
person leaves a bequest in his will for masses for his soul, 
which constitute an incumbrance upon the estate, and thus 
nearly all the estates of the small proprietors are mortgaged 
to the church. The property held by the church in mort- 
main is estimated at fifty millions. 

Mexico is, I believe, the only country where the 
church property remains in its untouched entirety. Some 
small amount has been recently realized from the sale of 
the estates of the banished Jesuits ; but, with that excep- 
tion, no President, however hard pressed (and there is no 
day in the year that they are not hard pressed), has ever 
dared to encroach upon that which is regarded consecrated 
property, with the exception of Gomez Farrias, who, in 
1834, proposed to the legislative chambers to confiscate all 
the church property, and the measure would, no doubt, have 
been adopted, but for a revolution which overthrew the 
administration. 

But it is impossible that such a state of things can last 
always. I have heard intelligent men express the opiiiion, 
that one-fourth of the property of the country is in the 
hands of the priesthood ; and, instead of diminishing, is 
continually increasing. As a means of raising money, I 
would not give the single institution of the Catholic religion 
of masses and indulgences for the benefit of the souls of the 
dead, for the power of taxation possessed by any govern- 
ment. No tax-gatherer is required to collect it ; its pay- 
ment is enforced by all the strongest and best feelings of 
the human heart. All religions and superstitions have their 



42 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. V. 

priesthood and their priestcraft, from the reptile worship of 
the Nile to our own pure and holy religion ; but of all the 
artifices of cunning and venality to extort money from 
credulous weakness, there is none so potential as a mass for 
the benefit of souls in purgatory. Our own more rational 
faith teaches that when a man dies his account is closed, 
arid his destiny for good or evil is fixed for ever, and that he 
is to be judged by the deeds done in the body ; but another 
creed inculcates that that destiny may be modified or 
changed by prayers at once posthumous, vicarious, and 
venal. It would seem to be in direct contradiction to the 
Saviour, in the comparison of the camel passing through 
the eye of a needle. Nothing is easier than for a rich man 
to enter the kingdom of heaven ; he purchases that entrance 
with money. He who can pay for most masses, shortens 
in proportion the period of his probation of torment in pur- 
gatory. Who is it that will not pay his last farthing to 
relieve the soul of a departed friend from those torments ? 
I do not know how the fee for these masses is exacted, but 
I do know that it is regularly paid ; and that, without the 
fee, the mass would be regarded of no value or efficacy. 
We read in the history of the conquest of Mexico that 
Cortes paid large sums for m.asses for the soul of Sandoval, 
when he died, and provided large sums in his will for 
masses for his own soul. I remember that my washerwoman 
once asked me to lend her two dollars. I asked her what 
she wanted with it. She told me that there was a particu- 
lar mass to be said on that day, which relieved the souls in 
purgatory from ten thousand years of torment, and that she 
wished to secure the benefit of it for her mother. I asked 
her if she was fool enough to believe it. She answered, 
" Why, yes, sir ; is it not true ?" and with a countenance of 
as much surprise as if I had denied that the sun was shining. 



CHAP, v.] MASSES. 43 

On a day of religious festival (the anniversary of Saint Fran- 
cisco), I have seen, stuck up on the door of the church of 
San Francisco, one of the largest and most magnificent in 
Mexico, a small advertisement, of which the following was 
the substance : — 

" His Holiness the Pope (and certain bishops which were 
named) have granted thirty-two thousand three hundred 
years, ten days and six hours of indulgence* for this mass." 

I do not remember exactly the number of years, days 
and hours, but I positively assert that it specified the num- 
ber of each, and I believe that I have stated them correctly. 
The manifest object of this minute particularity is to secure 
the more effectual belief in the imposture. By thus giving 
to it the air of a business transaction, a sort of contract be- 
tween the devotee and the Almighty, by his authorized 
agent and vicegerent on earth, the Pope, is established — a 
contract the more binding in its character because the 
receipt of the consideration is acknowledged. I tremble at 
the apparent blasphemy of even describing such things. 

Mr. Brantz Mayer, in his very interesting book, gives a 
literal copy of an advertisement which was stuck up in the 
beautiful church of Gaudaloupe on the festival of Nuestra 
Seiiora de Gaudaloupe, of which the following is a transla- 
tion : — 

" The faithful are reminded that the most illustrious Bishops of Puebla 
and Tarazora have granted an indulgence of eighty days for every quar- 
ter of an hour vs^hich the said images are exposed, and five hundred days 
for each Ave Maria which is recited before either of them. Lastly, the 
most excellent Fr. Jose Miria de Jesus Belaumzaron, for himself, and 
for the most illustrious the present Bishops of Puebla, Michoacan, 

* An indulgence is defined : A remission of the punishment due for sins ; 
a plenary indulgence, is a remission of the whole punishment ; a particular 
indulgence, a remission of a part only. 



44 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. V. 

Jolisci, and Durango, has granted an indulgence of two hundred days for 
every word of the appointed prayers to our most exalted lady, for every 
step taken in her house, for every reverence performed, and for every 
word of the mass which may be uttered by the priest or the hearers ; as 
many more days of indulgence are granted for every quarter of an hour 
in which these images are exposed, in the balconies, windows, or doors, 
for public adoration." 

A distinguished friend of mine, who resided some time in 
Mexico, has still in his possession some curious specimens 
of these indulgences, varying, in the number of years of 
remission of punishment, according to the prices paid : 
among others, one which grants to a single prayer all 
the good effects of a hundred. These effects are all 
graduated according to a regular scale, so many years 
of remission for each prayer or mass, and so many years 
of punishment for each sin. I remember, on one occasion, 
giving some order to a servant on Sunday, when he told 
me that he must go to mass ; that he would suffer seven 
thousand years in purgatory for every mass which he 
neglected on Sunday, or any day of religious festival. 
They have a saint for all occasions. There is no human 
want that there is not some particular saint to whose par- 
ticular " line of business " the matter belongs ; and by 
proper devotions to him his powerful aid is secured. They 
have a saint for horses, and on the festival of that saint, 
which is his birth-day, horses are carried to the priest, and 
for a small sum receive the blessing ; a perfect security 
against " all the ills which horse flesh is heir to." In what 
is such a superstition superior to the idol-worship which it 
superseded ? That was at least sincere, both on the part 
of priest and devotee. Is this ? 

How enormous must be the revenues derived from this 
source, amongst a people who believe implicitly in the 



CHAP, v.] STREETS AND BUILDINGS OF 3IEXIC0. 45 

efficacy of these masses to purchase, both for the hving 
and the dead, a remission of the punishment and torments 
of purgatory, and for every crime, too, which man can 
commit ! In the language of Tetzel, the great vender 
of indulgences in the time of Luther, who asserted that 
these indulgences which he sold were efficacious for the 
remission of every sin, even " si quis virginem matrem 
vitiasset (If one should violate the Virgin Mother, let 
him pay — let him pay largely, and it shall be forgiven 
him). Even repentance," said he, " is not necessary, and 
more than all this, indulgences save not the hving alone, 
they also save the dead. Ye priests, ye nobles, ye trades- 
men, ye wives, ye maidens, ye young men, hearken to 
your departed parents and friends who cry to you from the 
bottomless abyss, we are enduring horrible torments, a 
small alms would deliver us ; you can give it, but you will 
not ! The very moment," continued Tetzel, " that the 
money clinks against the bottom of the chest, the soul 
escapes from purgatory, and ffies to heaven. Bring your 
money — bring money — bring money ! " The people to 
whom Tetzel sold his indulgences, from which he received 
so immense an amount, were far less ignorant than the 
mass of the Mexican population. At no period, and in no 
country, have the efficacy of these indulgences been more 
universally believed and relied upon, than they are in 
Mexico at this day. The reader may imagine, if he can, 
the treasures with which the coffers of the church are filled 
from this source alone. 

The streets of Mexico are uncommonly wide, much more 
so than is necessary, considering that they are not obstructed, 
as in our cities, by drays and wagons. The side-walks are 
uncommonly narrow. The streets are all paved with round 
stones ; the side-walks with very rough flat ones. The 



46 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. V. 

houses on the principal streets are all two and three stories 
high. The elevation of the rooms, from the floor to the 
ceiling, eighteen and twenty feet, gives to a house of two 
stories a greater height than we are accustomed to see in 
houses of three. The roofs are all terraced, and have parapet 
walls of three or four feet high, answering all the purposes 
of a breast-work, a use too commonly made of them in the 
frequent revolutions to which that unfortunate country 
seems to be for ever destined. The walls are built of rough 
stones of all shapes and sizes, and large quantities of lime 
mortar. They are very thick, in ordinary buildings from 
two to three feet, and in the larger edifices of much greater 
massiveness. The foundations of most of the largest build- 
ings are made with piles. Even these foundations are very 
insecure, and it is surprising that they are not more so, with 
such an immense weight of stone upon such an unsteady 
foundation. The streets cross each other at right angles, di- 
viding the whole city into squares. Each one of these squares 
is called a street, and has a separate name ; a serious incon- 
venience to a stranger in the city. Instead of designating 
the street in its whole extent, by one name, and numbering 
the houses, each side of every square has a different name, 
and names which sound, to Protestant ears., very much like 
a violation of the Third Article of the Decalogue ; such as 
the street of Jesus, and the street of the Holy Ghost. A 
gentleman will tell you that he lives in the Holy Ghost, or 
that he lives in Jesus ; certainly not always true, if taken in 
the sense in which our preachers use these words. In most 
of these streets there is a church, which gives name to the 
street in which it stands. In many instances these churches 
and convents (that of San Augustine for example) covers 
the whole square, not with separate buildings, but one 
single edifice, with the usual patio or court, an open space 



CHAP, v.] THE BUILDINGS OF MEXICO. 47 

in the centre. There is not, I believe, a house in the 
city without this court, of greater or less dimensions, 
in proportion to the size of the building. There is only one 
door on the lower floor, and none at all on the outside of 
the upper story. This door is very strongly built, and high 
enough for a coach to pass through ; it opens into the patio 
through which you pass to the steps leading to the upper 
stories, where alone everybody lives except the lowest 
classes. In all the establishments of the better classes, the 
basement story is only occupied by the servants and as 
lumber-rooms, and what struck me as very strange, as sta- 
bles. I do not suppose that there is such a separate building 
in the city as a stable. In visiting Count Certuna, for ex- 
ample, whose whole establishment is altogether princely, 
and others of equal splendor and luxury, I found this court 
on the ground floor used as a stable, and passed through 
rows of horses and carriages to make my way to the most 
spacious halls, filled with fine paintings of the great mas- 
ters, and furnished throughout in a style altogether gorge- 
ous. In some of the larger private buildings thirty and 
forty different famihes reside ; each one having rented one 
or two rooms : all entering at the only outside door into the 
court, whichisthe common property of all — and from which 
each one has an entrance to his own rooms on the ground 
floor or the gallery above, which runs all around the build- 
ing. I do not think that the area covered by the city 
of Mexico can exceed two miles in length, and a mile and 
a half in width ; a very small space to be occupied by a popu- 
lation of nearly two hundred thousand. But, it is not at all 
surprising when you see thirty or forty families, enough to 
make a respectable village, all huddled away in one house, 
and consider what a large number sleep in the open air in 



48 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. V. 

that delightful climate. How pure must be the atmosphere 
when the city of Mexico is so remarkably healthy, notwith- 
standing such a crowded and filthy mode of living, and 
with a tropical sun shining upon the moist surface of the 
whole valley ! One would think the latter sufficient of itself 
to produce the most fatal malaria. 

It is a little curious that whilst the buildings and popula- 
tion of Mexico are thus crowded into so small a space, and 
the rents are three times as high as in the city of New York, 
yet all around the city there is a vacant ground, and as dry 
as the city itself, which may be had almost for the taking. 
I was riding out with a friend one evening when he showed 
me a square containing between five or six acres, just in the 
rear of the Plaza de Toros on the outskirts of the city, and 
not more than half or three (Quarters of a mile from the public 
square, which he had just purchased for four hundred dollars. 
Why such lots are not improved and the city extended, I 
cannot easily comprehend. 

At the period of the Conquest, the water of the lakes 
flowed through all the streets of the city, which were 
crossed in canoes or on bridges. Inundations of the city 
to the height of several feet were of frequent occurrence. 
These inundations were caused by the overflowing of the 
lakes San Christoval and Zumpango, and the rush of their 
waters into the bed of the lake of Tezcuco, on an island in 
which the city of Mexico was, and near the border of which 
it is now situated. The great square of the city of Mexico 
is four feet one inch elevated above the mean level of 
the waters of the lake Tezcuco ; San Christoval is twelve 
feet eight inches, and Zumpango thirty-one feet eleven 
inches higher than Tezcuco ; and Xachimilco and 
Chalco three feet eleven inches higher than the city of 



CHAP, v.] INUNDATIONS OF THE CITY. 49 

Mexico. Previous to the arrival of the Spaniards, 
and for nearly a century afterwards, the only protection 
against these inundations consisted in dykes between the 
lakes San Christoval and Tezcuco. In the year 1607, the 
viceroy determined to construct some more eifectual bar- 
rier. The plan which was adopted was to drain the lake 
of Zumpango by a tunnel and canal, which would give a 
different outlet to its waters. A tunnel was accordingly 
cut through the mountain, 21,654 feet long ; and a canal 
28,216 feet long, through which the water flowed into the 
river Tula, which empties into the river Panuco. This 
herculean work was finished by fifteen thousand Indians in 
eleven months ; but, from the giving way of the roof of the 
tunnel, another plan was resolved on, which was, to remove 
the top of the tunnel, and make it an open canal. This last 
work was commenced in 1629, and not completed until 
1789. The whole length of this canal is 67,537 feet ; its 
greatest depth 197 feet, and its greatest breadth 361 feet. 
There are other stupendous works connected with this 
canal : the stone dykes between Zumpango and San Chris- 
toval, between the latter and Tezcuco, and the great canal 
which empties the waters of the Guatillan into the river 
Tula. The last great inundation of the city occurred in the 
year 1629, when the water rose to the height of three feet, 
and remained so for five years. It was at length carried off 
by the effects of a succession of earthquakes, but the security 
is still by no means regarded as perfect. There are clouds 
called culebras (snakes), from some supposed resemblance 
in form, which portend heavy rains, and always cause a 
general apprehension of an inundation. At such times, all 
the bells in the city are rung, for the purpose of propitiating 
the God of the storm, and averting the calamity. The 

4 



50 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. V. 

result has always been favorable — whether from the ring- 
ing of the bells and post hoc ergo propter hoc, I shall not 
decide. In this connection, I will mention another equally 
curious superstition ; — I do not know that it is peculiar to 
Mexico. At a late hour every evening all the bells of the 
city are tolled, and the belief is, that whilst the bells are 
ringing, the souls in purgatory are released from torment. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Early visit to Mr. Kendall, of the Santa Fe Expedition — Death of the 
wife of Santa Anna — Presentation to Santa Anna — Historical Sketch — 
Career of Santa Anna — Victoria. 

I ARRIVED in Mexico on Saturday evening, and early on 
Sunday morning I went to see Mr. Kendall and the Texan 
prisoners. Although I had not then any personal acquaint- 
ance w^ithMr. Kendal], I felt a deep interest in his suffer- 
ings, an interest which was heightened by the terms in 
which many of my friends in New Orleans had spoken of 
him to me. I was very sure that no man who did not pos- 
sess fine qualities could have inspired the feelings which 
were entertained towards him. I felt it to be my duty that 
my first visit should be to him. I did not believe that by 
doing so I should in any way give offence to the Mexican 
Government, or diminish my ability to procure his release. 
I have always found the highest policy to consist m pur- 
suing the promptings of just and honorable sentiments. I 
am satisfied that it was so in this case. Desirous as I was 
to see Mr. Kendall, my visit to him thus promptly was 
dictated quite as much by policy as by feeling ; I knew 
that all the movements of the new American minister were 
closely observed, and that it was generally supposed that I 
had gone to Mexico specially on account of the American 
citizens confined there, and with very strong instructions. 
I have reason to know that my visit to Kendall was imme- 
diately reported at the palace, and the effect was what I 



52 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VI. 

anticipated and desired. He was confined in the hospital 
of San Lazaro — a most appropriate name. I have visited 
many hospitals in the United States, but never have I seen 
such an exhibition of loathsome disease. The brother of 
Mary and Martha would have been a healthy-looking and 
well-dressed gentleman, compared with any of the inmates 
of 'this hospital bearing his name. Mr. Kendall was 
quietly seated amongst the lepers, looking over some 
American newspapers which I had sent him the evening 
before. I took my seat by him, and became so much inter- 
ested in conversation with him, that I did not think, for 
some time, of the danger to which I was exposed in breath- 
ing the very air of pestilence. 

I went from San Lazaro to the convent of St. Jago, where 
the other prisoners of the Santa F6 expedition were con- 
fined. This convent is situated on the great square of 
Tlatilalco, and I stood on the spot where the Spaniards at 
last succeeded in capturing " the hero boy" Guatemozin, 
who made so glorious and heroic a defence of his country 
against the Spanish invaders. I know of no siege recorded 
in history which equals that of Mexico, in the indomitable 
spirit and stern fortitude which were displayed, and the 
extent of the sufferings endured by the besieged, nor a 
scene more touching, nor language more truly heroic than 
that of Guatemozin when brought a prisoner into the pre- 
sence of Cortes ; " I have done all which it was my duty to 
do in the defence of my country and people until I am 
reduced to my present condition, now do with me as you 
please." 

At the period of my arrival in Mexico, the wife of 
General Santa Anna, who is since dead, was dangerously 
ill. The night after my arrival, the last ceremonies of the 
Romish Church, and the last consolations of that religion 



CHAP. VI.] DEATH OF THE WIFE OF SANTA ANNA. 53 

were administered to her with a magnificent procession of 
all the dignitaries of the church, headed by the archbishop, 
and numbering altogether more than twenty thousand per- 
sons ; amongst whom (I place them in the order which is 
that of precedence there) were all the highest officers of the 
church, the army and the government. She was spoken of 
by every one, even the bitterest enemies of her husband, as 
a lady of rare virtue, and with the benevolence which belongs 
to the character of woman everywhere, she had strenuously 
exerted all her influence with her husband for the release 
of the Texan prisoners. Under ordinary circumstances, I 
should have felt restrained by his domestic afflictions from 
urging the President for my presentation, but the vessel 
which carried me to Vera Cruz would be detained to take 
home my predecessor, Mr. Ellis, and the yellow fever was 
raging there with an almost unprecedented fatality. I felt 
great solicitude for the health of the officers and crew — 
and was anxious that their exposure to the pestilence should 
be as brief as possible ; I felt, too, that every moment which 
Kendall and other Americans were unjustly confined in 
Mexico, was a reproach upon their government, and 
although I did not for a' moment suppose that I -could do 
anything in their behalf — which, under the circumstances, 
would not have been done by the worthy and most 
faithful minister who then represented our country in 
Mexico — yet, I was apprised that the Mexican cabinet 
looked with much apprehension upon what they supposed 
the instructions of the new minister, and the high ground 
which they anticipated that he would take. I was anxious 
to avail myself of this state of feeling, and to enter upon my 
duties at the earhest moment. Notwithstanding the dan- 
gerous illness of the Senora Santa Anna, an audience was 
granted me. I had intended to have delivered my address 



54 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VI. 

upon my presentation in English, but a circumstance 
occurring which it is not necessary to mention, deter- 
mined me to risk my Spanish. I, of course, had to allude 
to the President's wife, and in doing so I spoke of her, as 
" son estimable esposa," your estimable wife ; I sen no Eng- 
lish copy of my address to the United States, but it was 
published in Spanish papers of the city, some of which 
came to this country, and the bungling translator for some 
of our papers translated the words " son estimable esposa," 
your estimable spouse. Now, although the word " spouse" 
is pure old English, perhaps it is a little too old, and I was 
a good deal ridiculed for using it, but the ridicule was due 
to the translator, not to me ; I did not choose to correct the 
mistake, thinking of the story of Alcibiades and his dog — and 
I think I have cause of congratulation considering that I 
was only two years in Mexico, and that during that time 
so many important and difficult questions were thrown upon 
the mission, if this was the only cause which I gave for cen- 
sure or ridicule. When I was presented, General Santa 
Anna and all his cabinet ministers were dressed in rich mili- 
tary uniforms. I was struck with the contrast to the simple 
unostentatious habits of our own Chief Magistrate ; but it 
was illustrative of the difference between the two govern- 
ments, — the principal points of resemblance between which 
are in name. If Mexico ever has been a RepubUc, it has 
been a military Republic. 

General Santa Anna has for the last quarter of a century 
played so conspicuous a part in the drama of Mexican poli- 
tics and civil war, as to have attracted the attention of the 
world, and to have made his name in some degree historic. 
No history of his country for that period can be written 
without the constant mention of his name ; indeed, I regard 
him, as more than any other man, the author and finisher of 



CHAP. VI.] HISTORICAL SKETCH. 55 

the last and successful struggle of Mexico for Independ- 
ence and a Republican form of government. The first 
abortive effort which v^ras commenced in 1809, by Hidalgo 
and Allende, had not for its object the establishment of a 
Republic, or of free institutions ; if, indeed, free institutions 
can exist under any other form of government. That 
movement had its origin in feelings of enthusiastic and 
devoted loyalty, which up to that time was the ruling 
passion in the heart of every Spaniard. The abdication of the 
legitimate monarch of Spain, the atrocious perfidy by which 
it was obtained, and the transference of the_^ sovereignty 
of the country to the Emperor of France, which country 
had for centuries been regarded as the hereditary enemy of 
Spain, were the true causes of the insurrection in Mexico in 
1809. It was begun under the auspices of the Spanish vice- 
roy, and had for its object, real as well as professed, the saving 
of that portion of his dominions for Ferdinand VII. Al- 
though that movement was commenced by Hidalgo, a 
priest, and afterwards prosecuted by Morelos, another priest, 
yet the great body of the clergy were opposed to it, and it 
of course failed. I say of course failed, for a residence in 
a Catholic country has thoroughly satisfied me that no poli- 
tical movement can succeed where that religion prevails, to 
which the priesthood is opposed. And it will constitute a new 
epoch in history whenever that priesthood is not opposed to 
any great movement in favor of human liberty. I know no 
sympathy which is stronger than that of the Catholic clergy 
with despotic power — nothing so fatal to these pretensions 
as the unshackling of the human mind by the spirit and the 
influence of free institutions. The struggle was continued 
with ever-changing leaders, and various results, until 1821, 
when General Iturbide, a Spanish officer in command of a 
large army intended to crush the small remnant of the pa- 



56 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VI. 

triot forces, and to extinguish the smouldering embers of 
the revolution, went over to the cause of the patriots, and 
at once changed the whole face of affairs. In truth, the de- 
fection of Iturbide was in itself the revolution. The inde- 
pendence of the country was achieved without a single 
battle, or a blow being struck by Spain. But the real 
patriots of the country very soon discovered that it was 
not the liberty of their country which they had achieved, but 
only a change of masters. In one year and three months 
after the adhesion of Iturbide to the cause of independence, 
he usurped the supreme power, and was declared emperor 
by the army and a wild mob of ragged leperos. Although 
there was a large number of repubhcans, and as enthusi- 
astic and devoted patriots as any country ever produced, 
the revolution was really no more a movement in favor of 
liberty than was that of 1809. Its real authors were the 
priests, and therefore it succeeded. Certain decrees of the 
Spanish Cortes, confiscating the estates, and otherwise en- 
croaching upon the prerogatives of the church, caused great 
excitement amongst the Mexican clergy, and they put the 
ball of revolution in motion, never dreaming that it would 
roll as far as it did. The basis of the movement was what 
was called the plan of Iguala, or the Three Guarantees, 
which was drawn up by Iturbide, and submitted by him to 
the chiefs of the army on the 24th February, 1821, who 
were then assembled at Iguala. This paper sets forth the 
three great objects of the revolution : 

1. The preservation of the holy Catholic religion. 

2. The intimate union of Creoles and Europeans. 

3. The separate independence of Mexico. 

The form of the government was to be a Umited monar- 
chy, and the crown to be offered to Ferdinand VII. As I 
before remarked, the defection of Iturbide consummated 



CHAP. VI.] HISTORICAL SKETCH. 57 

the revolution without the shedding of one drop of blood. 
He who had proven himself false to his king, was not less 
so to his country and the cause of liberty which he had es- 
poused. He very soon evinced by many arrogant and 
arbitrary acts what were his real purposes and objects, and 
on the night of the 18th of May, 1822, he was proclaimed em- 
peror. Having thus, by double treachery to his sovereign 
and country, acquired the supreme power, his first acts 
showed that he was ambitious to add to the epithets to 
which he had entitled himself, that of tyrant also. 

No similar body, under like circumstances, has evinced 
more virtue, firmness, and constancy, than did the Congress 
of Mexico in resisting the usurpation and tyranny of Itur- 
bide, surrounded as he was by his pretorian band. But all 
resistance seemed in vain, and the power of the usurper 
seemed to be firmly established, the republican party utterly 
crushed, and the spirit of liberty itself extinguished, ex- 
cept in a few heroic bosoms. Bravo had retired to the 
south, and Victoria was hiding himself in the caverns of the 
mountains, whilst Iturbide was revelling in imperial splen- 
dor, surrounded by an army of fifteen thousand men. 

It is not my purpose to write either a history of the Mex- 
ican revolution or a biography of General Santa Anna, but 
this sketch is necessary to enable the reader justly to appre- 
ciate the public career and character of the latter. 

Such, then, was the state of things in Mexico in January, 
1823, when General Santa Anna, then only a Colonel, and 
in command of a single regiment in Vera Cruz, raised the 
banner once more of republican liberty, and forthwith com- 
menced his march towards Mexico, unsupported but by his 
own regiment. Iturbide despatched General Echavari 
to meet him, and, as he did not doubt, to crush the rebellion 
at a single blow. After various skirmishes between Jalapa 



68 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VI. 

and Vera Cruz, where they met, Santa Anna managed to 
bring over General Echavari to the republican cause, 
with all his force. This at once gave him the command 
of a respectable army, and well-grounded hopes of success. 
Santa Anna was then only thirty years of age, and had no 
extended reputation in the country. He was only known 
as an intrepid and successful Colonel of a regiment, and he 
wisely considered that the great interests involved, required 
that the chief command should be given to some of the old 
heroes of the Revolution, whose name would be a watch- 
word for every Mexican patriot ; and he at once deter- 
mined to call Victoria from his hiding-place in the moun- 
tains, to give him the chief command, and to serve in a 
subordinate station himself The revolution was soon con- 
summated ; Iturbide dethroned and banished, and a federal 
Repubhc ultimately established. Santa Anna, from the 
first, declared in favor of this form of government, and 
zealously aided in its establishment. There was another 
and a powerful party in favor of a central government. He 
faithfully sustained the government thus established, until 
it was fairly tried and generally thought, by the most 
enlightened men, that the experiment had failed. Any opi- 
nion, which my short residence in the country would enable 
me to form upon this question, would not be entitled to much 
weight. But I confess that I shall be most agreeably sur- 
prised if a Federal Republic shall succeed in Mexico, for 
many years to come ; nor do I see much reason for such a 
form of government there. The representative principle is 
the great security of the rights of the citizen, and it is an 
all-sufficient security where the interests of the constituent 
and the representative are identical. I do not mean the 
interest of the individual constituent and representative, but 
of the constituent and representative bodies. This identity 



CHAP. VI.] HISTORICAL SKETCH. 59 

does not exist in a country embracing various and antago- 
nist interests, and those interests concentrated in different 
and distinct sections, as in our own country. In such a 
case the interest of a majority of the representatives may 
be directly opposed to the interests of the minority, who 
may thus not only be injured by acts of legislation not 
only not injurious, but positively beneficial to the majority 
of the representative body, and their immediate constitu- 
ency. The only security in such a state of things is the 
federal principle ; and the great difficulty exists in the com- 
bination of the federal and representative principles. How 
far it is practicable to combine these principles, is the great 
problem in political philosophy which we have undertaken 
to solve. It is probable that we may be able to do it suc- 
cesefully. But it is scarcely possible for Mexico ; nor is 
there much necessity for such an experiment there. In 
Mexico there is no such variety of productions and employ- 
ments, and therefore no such conflict of antagonist interests 
as to prevent one government from operating equally bene- 
ficially on all the different sections of the country ; and 
therefore the less necessity for the partition of the powers 
of government between one whose objects are purely inter- 
nal, and another exclusively external and national. It is 
much to be feared, too, from the great extent of the Terri- 
tory, and the sparseness and ignorance of the population, 
that a federal government would, in Mexico, really be no 
government at all. 

That such a form of government is the best for us, is no 
good reason that it is the best also for Mexico, but rather 
the contrary. Governments should be cautiously adapted 
to all the general peculiarities of a people ; and every peo- 
ple has these peculiarities. The government which would 
suit one would, therefore, not be apt to suit another people 



60 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VI. 

equally well. I ride my own gentle and well-trained horse 
with a light bridle, but it is no reason why my neighbor, 
whose horse is wild and untractable, should do the same. 

This short retrospect of Mexican history will, I think, 
satisfy the reader that Santa Anna is entitled to all the 
credit of beginning the last and successful movement for 
the establishment of a Republican government in Mexico, 
and under circumstances in which very few men would have 
had the boldness to have attempted it. When the whole 
country was trembling under the absolute and despotic 
power of Iturbide, and the spirit of resistance and the 
hopes of liberty almost extinguished, unsupported but by his 
single regiment, he unfurled his banner, and instantly com- 
menced the march towards the capital, where Iturbide was 
surrounded by 15,000 veteran troops. Where shall we 
find an instance of greater disinterestedness than that of this 
young and ambitious officer, surrendering to another the 
chief command, and the glory of the achievement, if it 
should be successful, at the same time that his own danger 
and responsibility were in no degree diminished in the 
event of a failure 1 

A passing word as to Gen. Victoria. The annals of the 
Mexican war of independence furnish many incidents and 
characters worthy of a place in the pages of Plutarch — 
luminous traces in the general darkness of faction and an- 
archy — none of these characters command more of my 
respect than that of Gaudaloupe Victoria. Through all 
the changing phases of that struggle he was always con- 
stant and faithful. He never despaired of the ultimate 
success of the cause of republican liberty — faltered in its 
support, or compromised with its enemies. When the 
Spanish power had entirely suppressed the insurrection of 
Hidalgo and Morelos, Victoria fled to the mountains, where 



CHAP. VI.] CAREER OF SANTA ANNA. 61 

he remained in concealment until deceived by the profes- 
sions of Iturbide, and believing that the liberty of his coun- 
try was his real as it was his professed object, he rallied 
under his standard. When the real designs of Iturbide 
were developed, and he usurped the supreme power, we do 
not find Victoria mingling with the throng of his minions, 
filling the high station which it was in his power to have 
done, and revelling in the splendors of the Imperial Court. 
We find him again the occupant of his cavern in the moun- 
tains, enduring privations and sufferings which give to his 
life more the air of a romance than of real history. Santa 
Anna again unfurls the banner of freedom, and Victoria 
again emerges from his hiding-place, and rallies under it. 
Wherever and whenever that banner was raised, without 
calculating the chances of success or the consequences of 
failure, this brave and virtuous man, with a romantic devo- 
tion to the liberty of his country, never hesitated in his 
course. The crowning glory of his life is, that he died so 
poor that he was buried at the public expense, and this 
after filling the highest offices of his country, where the fa- 
cilities of peculation are infinite, and the practice of it 
much too common.* 

I shall pass over in this notice of the public career of 
Santa Anna, all the events of the war, in which he bore a 
part, between the dethronement of Iturbide and the landing 
of the Spanish General Barradas at Tampico in the sum- 
mer of 1829, in command of 4000 Spanish veterans, with 
the confident hope of crushing for ever the revolutionary 
movement in Mexico. Active hostilities on the part of the 
mother country had been so long suspended that Mexico 
did not anticipate such an invasion, and was wholly unpre- 

* A Sketch of Victoria taken from Ward's Mexico will be found in the 
Appendix. 



62 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VI. 

pared to meet it. Santa Anna, who was in Vera Cruz, 
was no sooner informed of the landing of the Spaniards 
than he immediately collected a force of seven hundred 
men and crossed the gulf in open boats, a distance of sixty 
miles, and landed at Zuspan, avoiding the Spanish vessels 
of war which were cruising in the gulf. From Zuspan he 
transported his troops in canoes and perogues across the 
Lake Jomiahua, and disembarked within three leagues of 
Tampico, which town the Spanish army then occupied. 
Santa Anna was informed when he landed that General 
Barradas had gone on an expedition into the interior with 
three thousand men, leaving one thousand to garrison the 
fortress. He resolved on an immediate attack, which he 
made at daylight the next morning, 1st of August, 1829, 
and after a vigorous assault of four hours, the garrison ca- 
pitulated. The capitulation had scarcely been concluded, 
when General Barradas made his appearance at the head 
of three thousand men : Santa Anna was cut off from the 
possibility of a retreat by the river, which flowed between 
the fort where he then was, and his quarters. In this criti- 
cal emergency, nothing could have saved him but one of 
those stratagems which have so often decided the fate of 
armies and of empires, and of which the mind of Santa 
Anna has so often shown itself in an eminent degree fruit- 
ful. He managed to impress General Barradas with the 
conviction that he was at the head of an overwhelming force, 
which the Spanish General the more readily believed as 
he could not have imagined that without such a force such 
an enterprise would have been attempted. He, therefore, 
instead of an immediate attack, proposed to enter into ne- 
gotiations, and that whilst those negotiations were going 
on, Santa Anna should return to his own quarters. To 
this Santa Anna consented, and with drums beating and 



CHAP. VI.] CAKEER OF SANTA ANNA. 63 

banners waving, crossed the river and returned in safety to 
his quarters. The mortification of Barradas v^^as extreme 
when he ascertained that this miserable force of Httle more 
than six hundred men had caused him such terror, and had 
escaped from his clutches ; such, however, were the effects 
produced upon the Spanish General by the extraordinary 
gallantry of the act that he did not attack the Mexican 
General even after he was informed of the extreme weak- 
ness of his force. Santa Anna was reinforced in a few 
days by some four or five hundred men. He attacked the 
Spaniards every night and generally successfully ; and on 
the 11th of September, a vigorous attack was made upon 
the fort on the Bar, which was garrisoned by a regiment 
of Spanish troops, when the Spanish General entered into a 
capitulation, surrendering all his arms and munitions of 
war. The remnant of the Spanish invading army, amount- 
ing to about twenty-two hundred, sailed shortly afterwards 
for Havana. Santa Anna's force at no time exceeded fif- 
teen hundred men. This was the last attempt which was 
made by Spain to recover her power in Mexico. 

Taking all the circumstances attending the campaign of 
Tampico, the desperate courage which could alone have 
suggested it, and the consummate prudence and caution in 
its execution, one is forcibly reminded of General Jackson's 
attack of the British, on the 23d of December. I do not 
mean, by comparing them, to say that they are in any de- 
gree equal ; nor do I know any campaign in history which 
can be advantageously compared with that of General 
Jackson in Louisiana. It was a miracle — I think the 
greatest miracle in military history, taking into considera- 
tion the vast superiority of the enemy, who that enemy was, 
and the general result in killed and wounded on both sides. 

The revolution which Santa Anna set on foot and con- 



64 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VI. 

summated in the fall of 1841, which resulted in the over- 
throw and banishment of President Bustamente, exhibited 
the same boldness in the undertaking, and tact and sagacity 
in its execution. Bustamente was in Mexico, in command 
of eight thousand troops : he himself an old commander of 
much experience and reputation, and undoubted courage ; 
Santa Anna was on his estate at Mango de Clavo, near Vera 
Cruz. He pronounced (that is the Mexican word for com- 
mencing a revolution) against Bustamente, and forthwith 
took up the line of march towards Mexico, at the head of 
four or five hundred men ; not soldiers, but such men as he 
could pick up about Vera Cruz, and on his estates ; and, 
with no other force but these raggamuffins, he had the 
audacity to show himself in the immediate vicinity of the 
city of Mexico. Bustamente did not attack him for a few 
days, from some cause, probably contempt for the move- 
ment ; but these few days were fatal to him, and in a few 
days more he was forced to surrender his power and leave 
the country. 

A provisional government was organized by the chiefs 
of the army assembled at Tacubaya, a village three miles 
from Mexico. By the seventh article of this provisional 
government, " as he understood it," Santa Anna was in- 
vested, in effect, with absolute power. This provisional 
government was to last until a new constitution was formed, 
and the government organized under it. This was not done 
until shortly before I left the country, and the only consti- 
tution which was in force during my residence there was 
the plan of Tacubaya ; and I must say, that of the hun- 
dreds of laws which were dictated by Santa Anna during 
that time, I think there were very few which were not 
wise and necessary. And it should redound to his lasting 
honor, that, surrounded as he was by faction, intrigue, and 



CHAP. VI.] CAREER OF SANTA ANNA. 65 

enemies, who have since overthrown him, in no single 
instance was any man punished for a political offence. 
Very few dictators, in possession of absolute power for the 
same length of time, and surrounded by the same circum- 
stances, can say as much. The reader will, at least, agree 
that he is not the sanguinary monster which some have 
supposed him to be. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Official and Private Intercourse with Santa Anna — Santa Anna's First 
Interview with General Jackson — His Explanation of the Massacre of 
the Alamo — Decimation of the Prisoners of Mier — Anecdotes of Grati- 
tude and Humanity in Santa Anna — Character of Santa Anna. 

After this sketch, and it is a very brief one. of some of 
the leading events in the public career of General Santa 
Anna, if the reader is sufficiently interested I pro- 
pose to devote another chapter to an account of some 
incidents of my official and private intercourse vv^ith him, 
and of many other matters which w^ill perhaps be more 
illustrative of his character and feelings as a man. 

General Santa Anna, is now fifty-four years of age. He 
is about five feet ten inches high, with a finely proportioned 
person. His complexion is of an olive cast, but not indi- 
cating any mixture of blood, although I believe he is not of 
pure Castilian lineage, I do not know that I have ever 
seen a more striking and finely formed head and face ; 
there is scarcely a feature or a point in either that Spurz- 
heim or Lavater would desire to change. I remember to 
have heard a distinguished American statesman remark 
when Santa Anna was in Washington, that he had rarely 
seen a face indicative in a higher degree of talent, firmness, 
and benevolence ; and when I say as I do, that I think that his 
face is not an inaccurate index to the volume of his charac- 
ter, I beg the reader not to start and lay down the book 
before he has read a few incidents which I propose to nar- 
rate, and for most of which I vouch, as they have passed 



CHAP. VII.] INTERVIEW WITH SANTA ANNA. 67 

under my own observation. I am well aware that I should 
better satisfy the great mass of readers both in this country 
and in Mexico, by speaking in a different vein of this now 
fallen man ; but it would be both unjust and ungrateful in 
me to do so. I trust that I may without impropriety say, 
that the history of my mission will show that I never 
stooped to flatter General Santa Anna when at the height 
of his power, neither can I find it in my heart to traduce 
him now. He has at different times, at my instance, 
released from imprisonment more than two hundred Texan 
prisoners, and has so often afforded me that highest of all 
happiness, that of making others happy, that I should be gra- 
tified to know that in his present fallen state anything which 
I may write of him has given him one moment's gratifica- 
tion. I shall not, however, be betrayed by this desire into 
writing one line which my own deliberate judgment does 
not approve. 

Mr. Poinsett had an interview with General Santa Anna in 
1822. He saw and judged of him free from the false glare 
of high position and extended reputation. Santa Anna was 
then only a colonel of a regiment. Mr. Poinsett was particu- 
larly struck with his high bearing and polished manners. 
Mme. Calderon de la Barca bears the same testimony to the 
grace, ease, naturalness of his manners, and the thoughtful- 
ness and repose which are so striking in his countenance ; and 
on this subject there is no authority so conclusive as that of 
a well-bred and accomplished lady. I have seen no coun- 
tenance except that of General Jackson, whose range of 
expression was so great, where there was so great a differ- 
ence between the quiet expression of the face when at 
rest and in a gentle mood, and its terrible ferocity when highly 
excited. The mildness of the lamb and the fierceness of 
the enraged tiger would not much too strongly express this 



68 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VII, 

difference. Such is his character, by nature kind and 
affectionate, but subject to bursts of passion fiery and fierce. 
He is a Spaniard ; a race which, with its many noble traits 
of character, is everywhere regarded as more than 
ordinarily sanguinary ; perhaps not more so by nature 
than others. They have been from the earliest period 
engaged in civil wars, and civil wars are everywhere san- 
guinary to a proverb. That between the Goths and the 
Moors lasted for eight hundred years, and there were ele- 
ments in that protracted contest calculated to increase even 
the characteristic ferocity of civil wars. It was a religious 
war, and more even than that, it was a war of races. The 
civil war between the mother country and Mexico, in 
which Santa Anna was bred, was not the best possible 
school for lessons of clemency. No quarter was generally 
the law of that war, at least on the part of Spain, and 
almost the only law which Spain respected. It would be 
strange indeed, if one brought up in such a school should 
not have committed some acts not strictly conformable to 
our notions. Yet, I believe, that with the exception of his 
conduct in Texas, and the order for decimating the Texan 
prisoners of Mier, his character is free from stain in this 
particular ; whilst his military career has been illustrated by 
many acts of noble clemency which would do honor to any 
commander. 

He attempts to justify himself for the shooting of the 
men of Colonel Fanning's command, and for the massacre at 
the storming of the Alamo. As I had never before heard 
any justification whatever of either of ihese acts, I will 
state what passed between Santa Anna and myself on this 
subject in the last interview which I had with him. He 
was describing to me his first interview with General Jack- 
son, at Washington city, and it was so characteristic of that 



CHAP. VII.] INTERVIEW WITH SANTA ANNA. 69 

gallant old man, that I will endeavor to give it in Santa 
Anna's own words. When he arrived in Washington, Mr. 
Forsyth, then Secretary of State, called upon him and re- 
quested that he would go with him and see General Jack- 
son, who was confined to his chamber, where he received 
Santa Anna. After the usual salutations and ceremonies, and 
some short conversation on other subjects. General Jackson 
said to him : " Well, General Santa Anna, tell me why you 
abandoned the republican party in Mexico and went over 
to the priests ?" Santa Anna said to me, laughing heartily, 
that although he felt that it was rather an awkward affair 
for the President of one republic to be thus catechized by 
the President of another, yet that he answered the question 
to the entire satisfaction of General Jackson, by stating all 
the circumstances of his position, and the condition of the 
country. When he had finished his defence on this point. 
General Jackson said to him : " Well, Sir, now tell me ano- 
ther thing ; why did you massacre the Texans of Fanning's 
command, and at the Alamo?" Santa Anna said that he 
then justified himself for those acts, or his participation in 
them, and that General Jackson expressed himself satisfied 
on that point also. I give you the statement of Santa Anna. 
I of course do not vouch for it. When he told me this I 
could not forbear saying to him, " And did General Jackson 
say that you had satisfied him on that point?" " Yes, he 
did. Sir," was his reply. I then told him that I had never 
heard one word in justification of those acts, and begged 
that he would repeat to me the substance of what he had 
said to General Jackson. He said that he would do so 
with great pleasure; that he was not surprised that I had 
never heard but one side of that matter, or of anything 
else connected with the war between Texas and Mexico ; 
that he knew, when he travelled through the United States, 



70 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VII. 

shortly after those scenes in Texas, that his name was never 
mentioned but as a murderer and assassin ; " Yes, Sir," 
said he, " and it is most honorable to your countrymen, that 
nowhere did I receive the slightest indignity, but was treat- 
ed everywhere with the most marked respect — even in the 
steamboats, where, as you know, there is not much cere- 
mony or respect for persons." 

As to the affair at the Alamo, he said that it was not ex- 
pected of any commander to restrain his troops when a 
place was taken by storm, and still less so when the dispro- 
portion of the forces of the besiegers and besieged was so 
great as to make a successful defence altogether hopeless — 
that in such a case, to protract the defence was a wanton 
sacrifice of the lives of the assailants — and unjustifiable ; 
that scenes equally sanguinary were enacted by the troops 
under the command of the Duke of Wellington at the 
storming of San Sebastian, Ciudad Riego, and Badajos. 
The Texans who defended the Alamo did not exceed one 
hundred and fifty men, without artillery, against between 
four and five thousand Mexicans, with artillery. He added 
that he had seven different times summoned them to surren- 
der, and offered them quarter, which he would have taken 
the risk and responsibility of granting, but that they refused 
to accept it, and fought to the last and died gloriously. 

As to the shooting of Fanning's men, he said that the cam- 
paign of Texas had been commenced under a special act 
of the Mexican Congress, providing that no prisoners should 
be made ; and added, that if the law was a sanguinary one, 
that the odium should attach to the legislature which passed 
it, and not to the military commander who obeyed and exe- 
. cuted it. I replied, that in that case, no capitulation should 
have been entered into, but that, after it had been done, it was 
obligatory, and I saw no justification whatever for violating 



CHAP. VII.] MASSACRE OF THE ALAMO. 71 

it. He replied : " That is true ; and when the officer to 
whom Colonel Fanning had surrendered informed me of it, 
and of the capitulation, I wrote to him, that although it was 
a violation of the law, yet as he had entered into the capitu- 
lation, it must be scrupulously respected." He said, that 
shortly after this, the officer in charge of the Texan pri- 
soners wrote to him that he was suffering extremely from 
want of provisions, and that most of the Texan prisoners 
had secret arms, which they refused to surrender, and that 
there were constant indications of a revolt among them. 
There were only about three hundred Mexican soldiers to 
guard near five hundred Texans.* He also said, that when 

* The massacre of Colonel Fanning's command was regarded in this coun- 
try with great and general horror, as it deserved to be, but it was not with- 
out illustrious examples. The following account of the slaughter of the 
Turkish prisoners at Jaffa is taken from Scott's Life of Napoleon. They 
were executed in precisely the same manner as were the unfortunate 
Texans — fired upon first with musketry, and the horrible butchery finished 
with the sword and bayonet. Change the names, and Sir Walter Scott's 
description of the wholesale murder at Jaffa would be an equally exact 
account of the massacre at Goliad. It does not, therefore, lie in the mouth 
of any admirer and eulogist of Buonaparte to denounce Santa Anna, even 
if he is to be held wholly responsible for the act : — 

" After the breach had been stormed, a large part of the garrison, esti- 
mated by Buonaparte himself at twelve hundred men, which Miot raises 
to betwixt two and three thousand, and others exaggerate still more, re- 
mained on the defensive, and held out in mosques and a sort of citadel to 
which they had retreated, till, at length, despairing of succor, they sur- 
rendered their arms, and were, in appearance, admitted to quarter. Of 
this body, the Egyptians were carefully separated from the Turks, Mau- 
grabins, and Arnaouts, and while the first were restored to liberty, and 
sent back to their country, these last were placed under a strong guard. 
Provisions were distributed to them, and they were permitted to go by 
detachments in quest of water. According to all appearance, they were 
considered and treated as prisoners of war. This was on the 18th of 
INIarch. On the 20th, two days afterwards, this body of prisoners were 
marched out of Jaffa, in the centre of a large square battalion, commanded 



72 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VII. 

he received this last communication, he sent to the officer 
in command a copy of the law of the Mexican Congress 
above referred to, but ordered him expressly to commit no 
act of unnecessary cruelty ; and if any executions were 
ordered, that it must be done only in cases of clear guilt 
and from stern necessity, and strictly according to military 

by General Bon. Miot assures us that he himself mounted his horse, 
accompanied the melancholy column, and witnessed the event. The 
Turks foresaw their fate, but used neither entreaties nor complaints 
to avert it. They marched on, silent and composed. Some of them, 
of higher rank, seemed to exhort the others to submit, like servants of the 
Prophet, to the decree which, according to their belief, was written on 
their forehead. They were escorted to the sand hills to the south-east of 
Jaffa, divided into small bodies, and put to death by musketry. The 
execution lasted a considerable time, and the wounded, as in the fusillades 
of the Revolution, were despatched with the bayonet. Their bodies were 
heaped together, and formed a pyramid, which is still visible, consisting 
now of human bones, as originally of bloody corpses." 

Nor would it very well become an Englishman to use any harsh terms 
of the actors in the massacre of the Texans at Goliad. The atrocities per- 
petrated after the battles at the river Raisin and Fort Meigs were infinitely 
more horrible. After a formal capitulation, in which protection was pro- 
mised, the American prisoners were delivered over to the savage allies of 
the English, in comparison with whose cruel tortures any ordinary mode 
of killing was mercy, the British ofRcers standing by and making no effort 
to prevent it. None but cowards are cruel. In a few months after these 
butcheries, the same British troops, with their leader. General Proctor, 
fled at the first charge like frightened wolves from the American army 
under General Harrison at the battle of the Thames. The battle-cry 
of Colonel Short, when leading the charge at Fort Sandusky, was, " Give 
the damned Yankees no quarter." When they were repulsed and beaten, 
their wounded were treated with the kindness of brothers. What a noble 
revenge ! The murderous forays of the British troops, at Hampton and 
other places on the Chesapeake, would have disgraced a band of Scottish 
marauders of the sixteenth century. Most of these buccaneers shortly 
afterwards went to New Orleans ; the bones of many of them are there yet. 
I have no disposition to perpetuate feelings of hostility against England, 
but acts of murderous atrocity like those to which I have alluded deserve 
to be held up to eternal execration. 



CHAP. VII.] THE PRISONERS OF MIER. 73 

usage. He said much more upon this point, but the above 
is the substance. I confess that whilst I thought his de- 
fence for the slaughter of the Alamo in some degree an 
exculpation, that the shooting of Fanning's command, pri- 
soners of war under a formal capitulation, was wholly un- 
justifiable, and an act of unmitigated murder — a guilt from 
which Santa Anna is not free, as the officer committing the 
act was never punished for it. 

The decimation of the prisoners of Mier I regard as an 
act of much greater atrocity than either of the others. 
Those prisoners were not on parole, and had a perfect right 
to escape if they could ; nothing was more common in the 
Peninsular war, than for British officers to refuse to be 
released on their parole, preferring to take the chances of 
escape, and not to deprive themselves of the right of serv- 
ing again during the war. When the news of the re-cap- 
ture of the Mier prisoners was received in Mexico, General 
Bravo was acting as President ad interiyn,^ and issued an 

* The long military career of Bravo has been that of a brave, virtuous, 
and humane man. Some instances are recorded of him, of a generosity 
which would do honor to any commander during the war of Independence. 
In Ward's Mexico, we find the following anecdote of his magnanimity : 
" In the first of these actions Bravo defeated Don Juan Labaqui, the com- 
mandant of the regiment of Patriots of Vera Cruz, at the head of a strong 
detachment. The engagement lasted three days, when the village in 
which the Spaniards had taken refuge was taken by storm (•20th August, 
1812). Three hundred prisoners, taken upon this occasion, were placed 
by Morelos at the disposal of Bravo, who offered them to the Viceroy 
Vinegas, in exchange for his father Don Leonardo Bravo, who was then 
under sentence of death in the prison of the capital. The offer was 
rejected, and the sentence against Don Leonardo ordered to be carried into 
immediate execution. His son, in lieu of making reprisals by the massa- 
cre of his prisoners, instantly set them at liberty, "wishing" (as he said) 
" to put it out of his own power to avenge on them the death of his parent, 
lest, in the first moments of grief, the temptation should prove irre- 
sistible." 



74 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VII. 

order that they should all be shot. As soon as I heard of 
this, I called at the office of Mr. Bocanegra, the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, and in the most respectful manner, ex- 
pressed the hope that all the privileges of prisoners of war 
vv^ould be extended to the Texans, and that no act of undue 
severity would be committed. He was very much excited, 
and it was the only instance, in all my intercourse with 
him, that his conduct was not dignified and courteous ; for 
he is a very polished and amiable gentleman. He said to 
me : They are not American citizens, and you have, there- 
fore, no right to interpose in their behalf. I repUed : They 
are human beings and prisonei's of war, and it is the right 
and the duty of all nations to see that Mexico does not vio- 
late the principles and the usages of civilized war — more 
particularly is it the duty of the United States to maintain 
those laws and usages on this Continent. He replied with 
much warmth, that Mexico would listen to no suggestion 
upon the subject, from any quarter. I rose from my seat, 
and said : Then, Sir, shoot them as soon as you choose, but 
let me tell you, that if you do you will at once involve in 
this war a much more powerful enemy than Texas — and 
took my leave. An express was immediately sent, coun- 
termanding the order to shoot them all, and another order 
given that they should be decimated, which was executed. 
I afterwards received from some of the Texan prison- 
ers, a heart-sickening account of the execution of those 
upon whom the lot fell. It was a cold-blooded and atro- 
cious murder, of as gallant men as any country can boast 
of. A career of public service, now not a short one, has 
afforded me no happiness at all equal to that which I derive 
from reflecting upon the part which I bore in this transac- 
tion. I may have been the instrument of saving the lives 
of a hundred and fifty or more of those brave and patri- 
otic, but unfortunate men. 



CHAP. VII.] THE PRISONERS OF MIER. 75 

In a military career of thirty years, these are the only 
instances, so far as I have ever heard, of any acts of cruelty 
or even severity, perpetrated by Santa Anna. In the vari- 
ous civil wars in Mrhich he has borne a conspicuous part, 
and always been successful, he has not only spared the 
lives and property of his vanquished enemies, but if, as was 
generally the case, they were banished, ample provision was 
made for them, which was punctually paid ; a somewhat 
rare thing in Mexico. There was one single exception to 
this remark : General Mexia, who was beaten at the battle 
of Acajeta, at the head of an insurrectionary army, was 
ordered to be shot in one hour. When the order was com- 
municated to him, he said: " General Santa Anna is very 
generous ; if I had made him prisoner, I should not have 
given him fifteen minutes." They were playing at a game 
upon which each had staked his head, and Mexia lost. 

There were some occurrences which passed under my own 
eye, and for the truth of which I vouch, which will better 
illustrate the character of General Santa Anna than any 
general dissertation of mine, and which will be entitled to 
more consideration than my own individual opinion. When 
Santa Anna was a prisoner in Texas he was put in chains. 
The proud spirit of a soldier and a Castillian could not bear 
this indignity, and he attempted to commit suicide by tak- 
ing laudanum. He was relieved from its effects, and other- 
wise kindly treated by Doctor Phelps, of Texas. On the 
arrival of the prisoners taken at Mier, Santa Anna ascer- 
tained that there was one whose name was Phelps. He 
sent for him, and asked him if he was related to Doctor 
Phelps of Washington, Texas ; when the young man replied 
that he was his son, Santa Anna ordered that he should be 
released, sent an aide-camp with him into the city, and pur- 
chased two or three suits of clothes for him, and gave him 



76 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [CHAP. VH. 

a room in his palace. I was informed of all this, and as 
there was an American ship of war at Vera Cruz, about to 
sail to the United States, I wrote a note to Santa Anna, 
offering young Phelps a passage. He replied, thanking me 
for the offer, but declined it, saying, that he felt himself for- 
tunate in having it in his power to return, in some degree, 
the kindness of Doctor Phelps to him, when he was a pri- 
soner in Texas, and that he preferred sending his son home 
at his own expense ; which he did, giving to him also a 
draft on his factor in Vera Cruz, for whatever sum of money 
he might ask for. 

Amongst the prisoners taken at Mier, was a very shrewd 
and handsome boy, of about fifteen years of age, John Hill. 
On their ai'rival in Mexico, this boy was not closely con- 
fined, as the other prisoners were, and he came to see me, 
and requested that I would ask the President to release 
him. I told him to go himself, and I was sure that Santa 
Anna would be more apt to do it on his own account than 
on mine. 

A few days afterwards the little fellow returned to my 
house very handsomely dressed, and told me that he had 
been liberated, and gave me the following account of what 
had passed between himself and the President. When he 
requested Santa Anna to release him, the latter replied, 
" Why if I do you will come back and fight me again. The 
Santa Fe prisoners were released on their parole of honor 
not to bear arms again against Mexico, and it was not three 
months before half of them had invaded the country again; 
and they tell me that you killed several of my Mexicans at 
Mier." The little fellow replied, that he did not know how 
many he had killed, but that he had fired fifteen or twenty 
times during the battle. " Very well," said Santa Anna, " I 
will release you, and what is more, I will adopt you as my 
son, and educate and provide for you as such." 



CHAP. Vir.] ANECDOTES. 77 

The boy was sent to the house of General Tornel, the 
Minister of War, and was really, as I know, adopted on a 
full footing of equality in his family, and treated with the 
most parental kindness. He was afterwards placed at the 
principal college in Mexico, where he was pursuing his 
education when I left the country. General Santa Anna 
not only paid the charges of his education, but in all re- 
spects cared for him as for a son. Some time after his 
own discharge, little Hill came to me, to request that I 
would obtain the release of his father; I told him no, that he 
was a more successful negotiator than I was, to go and try 
his own hand again. He did so, and obtained at once the 
release of his father, and afterwards of a brother, who was 
also among the prisoners. 

I might protract this narrative almost indefinitely by de- 
scribing similar instances, but I will mention only one 
more, and it impressed me more favorably than any other, 
because it was a triumph of the better and more generous 
feelings and impulses of our nature, over the previously 
formed determination of calculating policy. At the period 
of my leaving Mexico, there were thirty-six Texans con- 
fined at tie castle of Perote, who had been made prisoners 
by General Wool at San Antonio, in Texas, in the fall of 
1842. 1 was very anxious that they should be released, 
and with that view, stopped some days at Jalapa, as Santa 
Anna was daily expected at his beautiful country seat, the 
Encero, five miles distant from that city. When I visited 
him, he turned the conversation upon the purpose of the 
government of the United States to annex Texas, and 
spoke freely but respectfully on the subject. It was not 
positively known then in Mexico that such a negotiation 
was on foot ; at least I did not know it, perhaps Santa 
Anna did. I was not disposed to enter into any discussion 



78 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VII. 

with him, but his remarks at length became so strong that 
I could not be silent, and I replied to him with a good deal 
of warmth, and at the close of a short and pretty animated 
discussion, I said to him — " What do you intend to do with 
the Texan prisoners ? do you intend to keep them here 
always?" " What else can I do, Sir ? if I release them on 
their parole, they will not respect it, and I gain nothing by 
making them prisoners, for they immediately take up arms 
again, as did the prisoners of the Santa Fe Expedition, 
and," he added, " I was informed that you intended to ask 
the release of these prisoners ; but I beg that you will not 
do it, for great as the pleasure would be to oblige you, my 
duty forbids it." I told him that he knew that I was not 
apt to abandon my purposes, and that I would ask it, and 
what was more, that I knew he would release them. I 
added that the prisoners taken at San Antonio did not 
know that it was the Mexican army which was approach- 
ing, but supposed it was a band of robbers which was in- 
festing the place ; the Texans had all told me so. He re- 
plied, " I know they say so, but it is not true ; Gen Wall 
entered San Antonio, with cannon and music, and any one 
knows that robber bands have neither." " Well," said I, " if 
they did, they were defending their homes and hearths, and 
a gallant defence they made, and a generous enemy should 
respect them the more." " That," said he, " is putting the 
matter on a different footing. Are there any particular 
individuals of the San Antonio prisoners whom you wish 
released ?" " Yes, there are." " Then," said he, " send 
me a list of their names to-morrow." " No, I will give 
them to you now," I replied. " Very well," said he, " who 
are they ?" I answered, " all of them. How can I distin- 
guish between men, all strangers to me, personally, whose 
cases are in all respects the same, and why should you ?'' 



CHAP. VII.] ANECDOTES. 79 

" Well," said he, with manifest emotion, " I have been ad- 
vised not to do it, and had made up my mind that I would 
not, but you shall take them all with you." 

In giving this narrative, I have been forced to speak more 
frequently of myself than I could wish ; I could have 
simply stated that those men were liberated at my request, 
but that would most inadequately have conveyed the idea 
of the true character of the transaction, — the yielding of 
all considerations of policy, to the promptings of feelings 
of generosity and kindness. I do not believe, that of the 
hundreds of Americans in Mexico, there was one who 
would not promptly have done all that I did. No unwor- 
thy motive can be imputed to Santa Anna for this act ; my 
functions as Minister had ceased, and I was then only a 
private American citizen, who had no power to serve him 
in any way, and whose name, even, he would in all proba- 
bility never again hear mentioned. 

During the war in Yucatan the government of Mexico 
was in a great exigency for thirty or forty thousand dollars. 
Mr. Hargoos, an American merchant of Vera Cruz, 
advanced the money upon the personal pledge of Santa 
Anna, that it should be paid at a stipulated time at the 
custom-house in Vera Cruz. Mr. Hargoos at the time 
appointed presented his order and was refused pay- 
ment. A few days afterwards, Santa Anna was in Vera 
Cruz, and Mr. H. called to see him, and informed him that 
he had presented the order which he had given him and 
that payment had been refused, the officer of the custom- 
house saying that he did so by the orders of Santa Anna — 
which Mr. Hargoos said he did not believe. Santa Anna 
said that he had given such orders, that there was no money 
in the treasury to pay the army, not enough even to purchase 
their rations, and that he must wait until it was more con- 



80 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VII. 

venient to pay him. Hargoos, very much excited, said, "You 
know, sir, that I would not have advanced this money, 
except upon the pledge of your word of honor, which I 
have not known violated before ; I have been your friend, 
sir, in more trials than one, and have respected and confided 
in you, henceforth these feelings are changed ; good evening, 
sir." Santa Anna called him back and said to the military 
friends by whom he was surrounded, " Gentlemen, have 
you heard the language which this man has used to me ?" 
Hargoos said, " I come from a country where no station 
protects a man from being told the truth. Is not what I 
have said true ?" " Yes, sir," said Santa Anna, " it is — and 
I respect you for your firmness in saying what you have ; 
I have flatterers enough about me, but few who will tell 
me the truth." The money was paid immediately. 

The reader will judge whether a man can be wholly bad 
who is capable of such acts. I am by no means an indis- 
criminate admirer of General Santa Anna ; he is not what 
Coleridge calls a " model man." He has many great faults 
and some vices both as a public and private man ; but many 
high and generous qualities also : most of his vices are 
attributable to his country and education. He commenced 
life ardently in favor of a Federal Republic, but very 
soon became convinced that his country was not prepared 
for such a government — an opinion, in which I think most 
intelligent foreigners who have visited Mexico agree with 
him. I believe he is a patriot ; his great vice is avarice, 
and he has at last fallen a victim to it. The total want of 
all real responsibility of all public officers, not only in 
Mexico, but in all Spanish countries, offers the most dan- 
gerous temptations to peculation and bribery. If I may 
believe the half of what I have heard, he is not free 
from these vices. With this exception, and it is a great and 



CHAP. VII.] CHARACTER OP SANTA ANNA. 81 

damning one, I think that the general course of his adminis- 
tration was patriotic and wise. I dare to say, that both with 
reference to its internal concerns, and the maintenance of 
the public faith, as well as in conducting its foreign relations, 
that Mexico has never been better governed than during 
his last presidency, when he was literally the state, and sin- 
cerely desiring, as I do, the welfare of that country, I should 

be glad to see him again at the head of its government, 

an event not impossible. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Public Characters of Mexico— M. Bocanegra — Triqueros— Tornel — Paredes 
— Valencia — Count Cortina — Bustamente — Gomez Farrias — Almonte — 
Cuevas, the Archbishop of Mexico. 

'Mr. Bocanegra, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, was a dis- 
;tinguished lawyer, and was also one of the judges of the 
Supreme Court. He left the Bench in 1841, to enter the 
Cabinet of General Santa Anna. Everybody in Mexico 
: speaks of him as an eminent and virtuous judge, I presume 
that there are more questions and involving a greater varie- 
ty of principles of international law, which are thrown upon 
ithe American legation in Mexico, than on any other of our 
.foreign missions. I had, therefore, much to do with Mr, 
Bocanegra; and besides this, I negotiated with him two 
important conventions, and I can say in all sincerity, that 
whilst I found him always faithful to his own country, and 
.tenacious of her interests, that he was uniformly courteous 
and fair; and never sought any of those small advantages 
which many erroneously suppose to be the duty of a diplo- 
^matist. As a companion, he was eminently joyous and con- 
vivial. I entertained for Mr. Bocanegra great respect, and 
a. very sincere regard. That Mexico may find a man who 
will conduct the business of the office of Minister of Foreign 
Affairs with more ability and success, is, I think, little to be 
expected. 

Mr. Triqueros, the Minister of Finance, whilst I was in 
Mexico, is not more, I should think, than forty years of age. 
He was a successful merchant in Vera Cruz, and I thought 



CHAP. VIII.] PUBLIC CHARACTERS OF MEXICO. 83 

managed the finances of the country with signal ability and 
success. He found the business of his department in a 
state of utter confusion, with a large public debt, and a civil 
list, which it must be impossible for the country to pay for 
any long period. It seemed a miracle that funds could be 
found to sustain the government even for a year. It had 
been the habit of the government to issue a government 
paper, receivable at the custom-houses, in the payment of 
duties. The market value of this paper has for a long time 
never been higher than from thirty ^to forty cents in the 
dollar. At this rate the government issued it and redeemed 
it at par. Besides this enormous loss, it was impossible for 
the head of the Department to make any calculation upon 
the accruing and available revenues, as it could not be an- 
ticipated how much of the import duties would be paid 
in this depreciated government paper. Mr. Triqueros at 
once set to work to remedy the evil, which he did in the 
only way by which it was practicable— by funding the 
whole debt, and setting apart a portion of the revenue from 
duties on imports for the payment of the interest on the 
debt thus funded. Most of the foreign creditors were dis- 
satisfied with this arrangement, although I foresaw and told 
them that it would be advantageous to them, as they after- 
wards found that it was. Their earnest remonstrances 
on this and other matters connected with the public debt, 
induced the Diplomatic Representatives of other countries 
to hold a meeting for the purpose of remonstrating against 
it. I was invited to the meeting, but I did not attend it, 
nor any other similar meeting of the Diplomatic, corps. It 
looked rather too much like an alliance, and I found no dis- 
inclination on the part of Mexico to accede to all proper 
demands which I made upon her, and, therefore, did not 
need any aid in protecting my countrymen, and maintain- 



84 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VIII. 

ing their rights. I went farther than this. I told my col- 
leagues of the Diplomatic corps, that they had no right to 
interfere in the matter, that it was only in cases of torts 
and not of contract that a nation was bound, or had the 
right to interfere for the protection of citizens or subjects. 
That if the citizen or subject of one nation made a contract 
with the government of another, his only reliance for the 
performance of that contract was upon the good faith of the 
government contracted with. No principle of the law of 
nations is better settled than this, nor upon more substan- 
tial reasons. 

At this particular juncture, it would not be very grace- 
ful, at least, for our government to demand of other govern- 
ments the punctual performance of contracts made with 
our citizens. 

General Tornel, the Secretary of War, is a remarkably 
fine looking, and in every respect, a striking man. He 
would be regarded as an accomplished man in any coun- 
try. He is a very elegant, sometimes an able writer.* If 
what I sometimes heard in Mexico is true, there is another 
and less favorable side of the picture. But of all the cities 
in the world, Mexico is the most gossipping, and I should 
be restrained from saying anything disparaging of General 
Tornel, from the consideration that there was a pretty vio- 
lent colhsion between us a few days after my arrival in 
Mexico, and that our relations were for some time of a very 
unfriendly character, and never very cordial. 

General Paredes, the author of the revolution, which 
terminated in the overthrow and banishment of Santa Anna, 

* He well deserves the title of" The patron of Learning in Mexico," and 
has entitled himself to the lasting gratitude of his country, for his con- 
tinued and successful efforts, for the establishment of schools and colleges, 
and the diffusion of learning among his countrymen. 



CHAP. VIII.] PUBLIC CHARACTERS OF MEXICO. 85 

is a man of talents and acquirements in his profession, and 
all speak of him as a gentleman and a patriot. But some 
how or other, no one looks to him for the Presidency. I 
do not know how this happens, unless it is that he is opposed 
to the Federal party, and Santa Anna was at the head of 
the other party. And besides that, Paredes, Valencia, and 
Tornel, were the three most prominent men in Mexico. 
But there was a tripartite jealousy and hatred between 
them which always secured the combination of two of 
them against the other. 

Paredes, Valencia, and Canalizo, were the three Generals 
in the most important commands under Bustamente. Pa- 
redes and Valencia went over to Santa Anna, and thereby 
consummated the overthrow of Bustamente's government. 
Canalizo adhered with a noble fidelity to the fortunes of his 
chief, and after Bustamente was vanquished, Canalizo held 
out for a long time at the head of only three hundred men, 
and by his remarkable gallantry obtained the sobriquet of 
the " Lion of Mexico." As soon as Santa Anna was firmly 
seated in power, he showered favors of all sorts upon Ca- 
nalizo ; amongst other things, appointing him President ad 
interim during his own absence from Mexico. He very 
soon quarrelled with Valencia and Paredes. The former 
gave up his command, and the latter was arrested and im- 
prisoned in the little town of Tula, thirty miles from Mex- 
ico. Paredes resides in the city of Guadalajai'a, where he 
is greatly beloved and respected. The department of Gua- 
dalajara is in every respect the finest in Mexico, with more 
intelligence, and of course, virtue, better farms, a better 
population, and sounder political principles than any other. 
I knew, when I left Mexico, that Paredes was only waiting 
for the proper moment to strike, and that his friends in 
Guadalajara were perfectly organized, held regularly secret 



86 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP, VIII. 

meetings, and were also only wailing for the moment of 
advantageous opportunity. This, unfortunately for himself, 
Santa Anna gave them. Reposing in the false security 
which his flatterers had made him believe that he enjoyed, 
and no longer apprehending any danger from Paredes, he 
appointed him governor of Sonora, a department upon the 
Pacific ocean. On his way to his department, Paredes 
passed through Guadalajara, and his arrival there was the 
signal for the pronunciamento which resulted in the defeat 
and overthrow of Santa Anna. 

General Valencia is an officer who has risen from the 
ranks to his present high position, a fact conclusive of talents 
and courage, whilst it is at the same time an excuse for his 
want of education and manners, which very strongly mark 
the parvenu. 

General, Count Cortina, as he is commonly called in 
Mexico, is a very different sort of person. He is a fine 
specimen of the Castilian gentleman ; brave, accomplished, 
cordial, generous, and punctiliously honorable. He has 
filled many high offices in Mexico, and during my residence 
there commanded a fine regiment of grenadiers. 

He possesses a very large fortune, and lives in a style of 
princely magnificence. I doubt if there is on this continent 
so fine a collection of paintings and statuary as is to be 
seen at his house. There are five or six large rooms, the 
walls of which are covered from the floor to the ceiling 
with paintings of the old masters : many of them by Mu- 
rillo. 

I did not know General Bustamente personally. He was 
banished shortly before I went to Mexico, and did not re- 
turn until after the overthrow of Santa Anna. It was a 
somewhat singular fact, that three Mexican Presidents were 
in a state of banishment at the same time — Gomez Farrias, 



CHAP. VIII.] PUPLIC CHARACTERS OF MEXICO. 87 

Bustamente, and Santa Anna, When Santa Anna arrived 
in Cuba, he met Bustamente there, returning to Mexico. 
If he had gone to New Orleans he would have met Gomez 
Farrias. Although Bustamente had been banished but a few 
months before my arrival in Mexico, I can with truth say- 
that I never once heard his name mentioned but with re- 
spect. This is not a* little singular, when it is remembered 
that his successful rival was then in power, and there was 
no form of .adulation which he did not hourly receive. 
Bustamente's career has been by no means a brief one, be- 
ginning, as it did, in the war of independence. Yet that 
whole career is unstained even with an imputation of a cruel, 
a dishonorable, or an unpatriotic act. All concede him pa- 
triotism, valor, and disinterestedness. At the period of his 
overthrow, fifty thousand dollars of his salary was found to 
be due him, which he had not drawn, leaving it to be ap- 
propriated to the always pressing exigencies of the govern- 
ment ; and he left the country so poor as to be forced to 
sell everything he possessed, even down to his walking 
cane, w^hich was offered to me by the person who had pur- 
chased it. Among the Romans it was regarded as the 
highest honor of one who had filled high stations, that he 
died so poor as to be buried at the public expense. It is 
much more honorable to one who has been President of 
Mexico, where the total absence of all responsibility affords 
so many temptations to peculation. 

All the contracts made by the government for clothing, 
arms and munitions for the army, loans, and in short for 
everything, are made privately by the executive, and with 
none of the restraints and securities which exist among us. 
And this fact alone is sufficient to show the wide door 
which is opened to every species of fraud and peculation. 
I remember that in one of my accounts as minister, one 



86 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. VIII. 

item of three dollars was not fully vouched, and it vv^as dis- 
allowed. Instead of being offended, I was really gratified, 
and the more proud of my government, where so exact a 
system of responsibility existed, and which was so rigidly 
enforced. 

All that I have said of General Bustamente may with 
equal truth be said of Gomez Farrias, with the addition that 
he is a man of a very high order of talents and extensive 
attainments. 

For high endowments, and spotless purity of character, 
public and private, Gomez Farrias would be a rare man in 
any country. The only fault ever imputed to him is that 
he is too much of an " exaltado ;" that he carries his ideas of 
liberty to an extent impracticable in Mexico ; or in other 
words, that he is too great an admirer of our institutions, 
and endeavors to assimilate those of Mexico too much to 
them. 

General Almonte is known to many in this country, and 
wherever he is known, it would be superfluous to say that 
he is in all respects an elegant and accomplished gentleman, 
virtuous, brave, and honorable. I have heard some of the 
Texans who were at the battle of San Jacinto say that 
the Mexicans who were saved on that occasion, owed their 
lives to General Almonte. The desperate onslaught of the 
Texians with their wild yells, glittering bowie knives, 
and clubbed rifles, was a thing to which the Mexicans were 
so entirely unacustomed, that they were thrown into a state 
of perfect panic. They would not fight, and the thought 
never occurred to them to lay down their arms, or other- 
wise make a formal surrender. The Texans, of course, 
continued the slaughter ; for after the charge of the Tex- 
ans, it ceased to be a battle. In this state of things, Al- 
monte said to the ofiicers who stood around him — " Gen- 



CHAP. VIII.] M. CUEVAS. 89 

tlemen, you see that our men will not fight, they are panic- 
stricken ; let us get them together and surrender them," which 
he did, and thus put a stop to the massacre. He it was who 
saved the life of the woman, the only survivor of the sanguin- 
ary scene at the Alamo, and afterwards furnished her with a 
horse, and the means of going to her friends. He was 
Secretary of War in the administration of Bustamente, 
and a very recent experience has shown how large a for- 
tune may be realized by the incumbent of that office. Al- 
monte, however, left the office with a large portion of his 
salary due him, and was so poor that he supported himself 
until he was appointed Minister to the United States, by 
delivering popular lectures. 

I trust that I commit no indelicacy in stating a fact uni- 
versally known in Mexico ; if I thought that it would in 
any manner be so regarded by General Almonte, I would 
on no account do it. He is the son of General Morelos, 
the name most honored and enshrined in the heart of every 
Mexican, as it well deserves to be. Hidalgo and Morelos 
were the principal authors of the revolutionary movement 
of 1809 ; they were both Priests. Morelos in command of 
the patriot army had a brilliant career of victories, but was 
at last vanquished by a superior force, and made prisoner 
and shot. His life was as pure as that of Aristides, and he 
died with all the dignity of Socrates. Like Socrates, too, 
the means of escape were offered him, which he rejected. 
I have seen his portrait in the house of General Almonte, 
and elsewhere ; he is always represented in the uniform of 
a Mexican General, but with a priest's mitre, instead of the 
military chapeau on his head. 

Mr. Cuevas, the present Minister of Foreign Affairs,.! 
knew sUghtly; he had much reputation in Mexico for 
talents, and is a very worthy and most agreeable gentle- 



90 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. VIII. 

man, with the admirable manners of all Mexican or Span- 
ish gentlemen, a point in which they are unequalled. The 
striking characteristics of their manners are naturalness, 
cordiality, frankness ; as an American lady in Mexico well 
expressed it, a " refined frankness," which never transcends 
the bounds of strict propriety, and a perfect repose equally 
removed from timidity and too great boldness — what the 
French so well express by their words " beau tranquille," 
a quality of which I think they possess very little them- 
selves. 

Of General Herrera, I only know that he is an old Gene- 
ral of good character and talents, but so far as I am ac- 
quainted remarkable for nothing. 

Serior Echavari, who is, or very lately was Minister 
of Finance, is, I believe, only distinguished for great wealth, 
and a great hatred of all foreigners. 

In this sketch of conspicuous men in Mexico, perhaps a 
good Catholic would complain that I had not noticed any 
of the dignitaries of the church. I met on two or three 
occasions at large dinner parties at the President's, the 
Archbishop of Cesarea. I never could ascertain exactly 
the office and functions of the latter, but took it for granted 
that they were very high from the fact that he was the 
only person of that character except the Archbishop of 
Mexico, who was an invited guest on these formal and state 
occasions. The foreign ministers were seated nearest 
" the salt," and those high functionaries of the church were, 
propter dignitatem, seated in the same neighborhood ; 
we were, therefore, very much thrown together. The 
Archbishop of Mexico is a stout, healthy looking and very 
agreeable old gentleman, the personification of a burly 
and jolly priest. He is a man of learning and well spoken 
of by every one. I took a great fancy to the Archbishop 



CHAP. Vni.] THE ARCHBISHOP OF MEXICO. 91 

of Cesarea and I believe that it was in some degree 
mutual. I might almost say with the romantic German 
girl who met another over a stove, at an inn on the road- 
side, that at the first sight we swore " eternal friendship to 
each other." When I was about to leave the room he 
came to me and asked where I lived, and said that he 
intended to call upon me. I begged that he would not do 
so, but allow me to make the first visit (for that is the cus- 
tom in Mexico), the stranger making the first call upon the 
resident. But the next day, the good old man called at my 
house, and as I happened not to be at home he would not 
leave his card, but told my servant that he would call again 
as he did not wish me to regard his visit as one of mere 
form. This, of course, brought about a great intimacy 
between us, and I often visited him at his country house on 
the borders of the city. I shall never forget the pleasant 
hours which I have spent there, nor cease to remember the 
venerable and good old man with gratitude and affection. 
He is a man of learning, especially on all matters connected 
with the church and its history. He spoke with great 
satisfaction of the Puseyite movement, and said that sooner 
or later we must all come to it, that the Catholic was the 
only true church, and that the Puseyites were good enough 
Catholics for him. When I called to take leave of him he 
was more than ever kind to me ; when he parted with me 
he said to a canonigo who was present, we must constantly 
offer up prayers for this man, he is too good a man to be a 
Protestant. I did not say the converse to him, whatever I 
may have thought, but I trust that I am neither so bigoted 
nor prejudiced as to believe that there is any Christian 
Church, whatever may be its forms of faith or worship, 
which does not number amongst its members men as good 
and virtuous as those whose religious opinions conform 
to my own. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Public Release of Texian Prisoners— General spirit of Kindness to them — 
Their Work in the Public Streets — Anecdotes of Virtue and Disinterest- 
edness on the part of the Prisoners. 

On the 16th of June, 1842, the Texian prisoners of the 
Santa Fe expedition were released, by General Santa Anna, 
that being his birth-day or rather the anniversary of his 
saint (Saint Antonio), which is the day kept by all Mexi- 
cans instead of their own birth-day. I knew that they 
were to be released on that day on the parade ground near 
the city, and fearing that the immense populace which 
would be assembled might offer them some violence, I went 
out knowing that my official station would protect me and 
might enable me to protect them. Never was fear more 
groundless, nor a surprise more agreeable. Santa Anna 
reviewed on that occasion a body of more than ten thousand 
troops, and there were not less than thirty or forty thousand 
other persons assembled in the field. When the order for 
their liberation was given it was received with acclamation 
and shouts by the Mexican troops, which extended through 
the whole vast concourse. The officers and others threw 
pieces of money to the Texians, and as they passed through 
the crowd, instead of jeers and insults every Mexican had 
a word of kindness for them, running up to them and shak- 
ing hands, and exclaiming " amigo, amigo !" my friend, my 
friend ! I saw one poor Lepero pull off his blanket and 
offer it to a Texian who was rather more ragged than he 
was himself. As they passed along the streets men and 



CHAP. IX.] RELEASE OF TEXIAN PRISONERS. 



93 



women would run out from their shops and offer them 
bread and other articles. Let it be remembered that these 
men had invaded their country, and that they had been 
sedulously taught to regard them as their born enemies, 
los Texanos (the Texians) having all the associations with 
a Mexican that the words los Mores (the Moors) had with 
their Gothic ancestors. I could not refrain from asking myself 
whether if the people of any other country had invaded ours 
and been made prisoners, they would under like circum- 
stances have passed through such a crowd not only ^Vith- 
out insult, but with such demonstrations of kindness and 
sympathy. There were a few instances of atrocious bar- 
barity practised upon these prisoners upon the frontiers of 
Mexico, when they were first captured. But after they 
had advanced within 1500 miles of the city the general 
treatment which they received was kind and respectful ; I 
think there was no single exception to this remark whilst 
they were confined in the convent of Saint Jago near 
Mexico. It is true that they were sometimes carried out 
in chains to work on the streets, but this was by the orders 
of the government, and the Mexican officers in charge of 
the prisoners could not disobey the order. But their com- 
pliance with it was in mere form, for they generally said to 
the Texians work just as little or as much as you choose, 
and precious little was the work they did. 

The Mier prisoners, a hundred and sixty, were several 
months at work on a street in Tacubaya, and all the work 
which they did, would have been done by two Irishmen in 
a week. When I say that they were kindly treated, I 
mean by the officers in charge of them, and would not be 
understood as justifying or apologising for the government, 
in ordering them to work on the streets at all, particularly 
in chains ; on the contrarv, as soon as I was informed of 



94 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. IX. 

the fact, I remonstrated against it, and it was discontinued. 
This, by the way, was the cause of the sparring between 
General Tornel and myself, to which I alluded, as having 
occurred the first week that I entered upon the duties of my 
office. But any treatment which the Texian prisoners 
received in Mexico, was kind and humane, in comparison 
with the treatment of American prisoners, during our late 
war with England, at Dartmoor and elsewhere. I kiiow 
that they were much better fed than the Mexican soldiers 
were. An incident occurred, whilst the prisoners were 
confined in Tacubaya, which is characteristic, not only of 
the Mexicans of both sexes, but of woman everywhere. 
On one occasion, and it was one of the very few exceptions 
to the remark which I have just made, a subaltern Mexican 
officer struck a Texian who was at work on the stz'eets ; a 
young lady of one of the most respectable families, and I 
sincerely regret that I have forgotten her name, who hap- 
pened to be passing by, called the officer to her, and asked 
him if he was a Mexican by birth. He replied that he was 
not. She said, " I am rejoiced to hear it, sir, and I did not 
suppose that you were, for I did not beUeve that any Mexi- 
can would be guilty of so cowardly an act as to strike a 
prisoner, who dare not return the blow." 

Whilst bearing this testimony to the humanity and gene- 
rosity of Mexicans, I cannot omit paying a just tribute to 
the Texian prisoners. I do not believe that the rank and 
file of any army was ever superior to them in courage, and 
other high qualities. Their number was so great that my 
means were altogether inadequate to supply all their wants, 
but I told them that when any of them were sick, to let me 
know it, and I would furnish them with such things as their 
necessities required. It more than once occurred, that 
when I visited them I found some of them sick, and unable 



CHAP. IX.] GENERAL SPIRIT OP KINDNESS. 95 

to eat the coarse food of which their rations consisted. 
When I asked them why they had not apphed to me, their 
reply was, " Why, sir, you have had to advance so much 
money on our account, that we were unwiUing to tax you 
any farther." I had very few applications for money, and 
in every instance, where I regarded the advance as a loan, 
I have since been paid, with not more than one or two 
exceptions. • There are one or two instances of heroic vir- 
ture, that I take special pleasure in recording. Amongst 
the prisoners taken at San Antonio in Texas, by General 
Wool, in the fall of 1843, was Mr. Samuel A. Maverick, a 
gentleman of very large fortune, and with a young and 
interesting family. He was a man of fiery and impatient 
temper, and chafed, under his confinement, like a chained 
tiger. A good deal had been said about a reannexation of 
Texas to Mexico, and negotiations were about being entered 
into to that end. I knew that Mexico only desired to save, 
in some degree, the point of honor, and that almost any 
terms would be conceded ; such as that Texas should have 
her own laws, religion, &c. ; that no Mexican troops should 
be quartered in Texas ; the Texians to make their own reve- 
nue laws, appoint their own revenue and other officers, 
pay only a nominal amount to Mexico ; in one word, and 
in the language of a distinguished member of the Mexican 
Cabinet, in conversing with me on the subject, " actual inde- 
pendence, with a mere nominal recognition of the sove- 
reignty of Mexico." That even such a reunion, in name 
only, could have lasted long, no one could have believed. 
I know that the Mexicans themselves had no such idea, 
Santa Anna had boasted so much of reconquering the 
country, which he found himself unable even to attempt, 
that I have strong reasons to believe that he would have 
allowed the Texians to dictate the terms of even this nomi- 



96 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. IX. 

nal reannexation, which must have been of very short dura- 
tion, and would, in the meantime, have given the Texians 
the advantage of the market of Mexico for their cotton, 
the high price of which there would very soon have filled 
up Texas with a population large enough to have enabled 
her to have dictated terms to Mexico. This was early in 
1843, when annexation to the United States had not been 
spoken of seriously, nor, so far as I knew, thought practi- 
cable by any one. 1 wrote to Maverick, who was then 
confined in the castle of Perote, saying to him, that if he 
was in favor of such a reannexation as that, and which 
would have been so in name only, and would say so to me, 
that I had no doubt Santa Anna would release him. I give 
an extract of- his letter in reply. 

" You say that you think that Santa Anna will release me if I say that 
I am in favor of the reannexation of Texas to Mexico. I cannot per- 
suade myself that such an annexation, on any terms, would be advan- 
tageous to Texas, and I therefore cannot say so, for I regard a lie as a 
crime, and one which I cannot commit even to secure my release ; I 
must, therefore, continue to wear my chains, galling as they are." 

A man of principles less stern might, with an easy 
casuistry, have said, " I am dealing with an enemy who 
has violated the terms of my capitulation, and it is excusa- 
ble that I should in turn deceive him." How many men 
are there who would not have thus reasoned ? Such an act 
recorded by Plutarch would have added another page as 
bright as that which perpetuates the noble constancy and 
heroic virtue of Regulus. 

Maverick was shortly afterwards released, as a personal 
favor to me, together with Mr. William E. Jones, formerly 
of Georgia, and Judge Hutchison, formerly of Mississippi, 
where he was distinguished for great learning, and beloved 



CHAP. IX.] ANECDOTES. 97 

by every one for his virtues. I sent them " on their way 
rejoicing," The residue of the prisoners taken at San An- 
tonio, thirty-six in number, were those of whom I have be- 
fore spoken as being released by General Santa Anna in so 
handsome a manner at the time I was leaving Mexico. 

Colonel Wm. G. Cooke, of the Santa Fe expedition, was 
engaged in the battle of San Jacinto. Two or three days 
after the battle two Texian boys, who were hunting for 
estray mules and horses, discovered a Mexican in the grass. 
One of the boys cocked his gun, and was taking aim at him, 
when the other told him not to shoot, as the man was un- 
armed. They found that he was a Mexican, but had no idea 
of the value of their prize. They determined, however, to 
take him to the Texian camp, some ten miles distant, and 
made him mount behind one of them, while the other walk- 
ed. When they approached the Texian camp the Mexican 
prisoners exclaimed. El Presidente, El General Santa 
Anna. This was immediately after the massacre of the 
Alamo and Goliad, and the first impulse of the Texians was 
to put him to death. Colonel Cooke, however, rallied the 
guard and saved the hfe of Santa Anna. 

After Colonel Cooke was released from imprisonment in 
Mexico, with all his companions, he remained a few days at 
my house, and when, in answer to my inquiries, he narrated 
these facts, I asked him why he had not communicated this 
to me before, and stated my belief that Santa Anna would 
have liberated him instantly. His reply was, that in saving 
the life of Santa Anna he had done no more than his duty, 
and that he could not think of asking any reward for it ; 
neither would he have accepted his own dischai^ge without 
that of all of his men ; that he would not under any circum- 
stances have been released and left them in captivity. All 
of the prisoners were released on the 16th of June, except 



98 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. IX. 

Colonel Navarro, to whose niece Colonel Cooke was then 
engaged, and has since been married. He could not speak 
of Navarro without great emotion. I asked him if I might 
inform Santa Anna that he was the officer who had saved 
his life after the battle of San Jacinto, and that he took a 
very deep interest in the fate of Navarro. This he could 
not resist. He was willing to do for a friend what he 
would not do for himself. I mentioned the facts to an aide- 
de-camp of Santa Anna, who promised me that he would 
communicate them to him. But probably he never did so. 
All my efforts in favor of Navarro were fruitless. He, 
however, made his escape from the castle of St. Juan de 
Ulloa, and returned to Texas. 

Amongst the prisoners of Mier, there were two of the 
name of Reese, Charles and William, the latter a boy of 
about sixteen. On his arrival in Mexico, I applied to Santa 
Anna and obtained his release. A few days afterwards he 
called to see me, and said — " My brother Charles is engaged 
to be married ; and, besides this, I know that he would be 
much more useful to my father and mother than I would, 
and I should like, sir, to take his place as a prisoner, and 
let him go home." In this he was not acting a part : he 
spoke under deep excitement and with a glistening eye, and 
I do not know that his was the only moist eye in the room. 
I could protract these pages indefinitely in narrating similar 
acts. From the time of my arrival in Mexico until I left 
the country, there was rarely a month that it was not my 
good fortune to obtain the discharge of some of the pri- 
soners, and I fully realized the truth of the lines of the 
greatest of poets : — 

" The quality of mercy is not strained, 
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath ; it is twice blest : 
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." 



CHAP. IX.] ANECDOTES. 99 

Happy as those poor fellows were, I doubt if they were 
happier than I was. 

It is the fashion of the world to complain of ingratitude ; 
I am sure that I shall never have cause to make that com- 
plaint against the Texian prisoners in Mexico. Those last 
released to me came home with me in the Bainbridge. The 
yellow fever was prevailing in Vera Cruz, and the surgeon 
of the Bainbridge thought that there would be great danger 
in receiving the Texians on board, and the commander of 
the vessel, Captain Mattison, a most worthy and excellent 
gentleman, determined not to do so. I had obtained their 
release, and brought them down to Vera Cruz, and if they 
had been left there they must have suffered, for they 
had neither money nor credit, besides the great danger 
they were in from yellow fever. I could not think of leav- 
ing them under such ch'cumstances, and, impatient as I 
was to return, I at once determined to remain with them. 
Capt. Mattison, however, at length agreed to receive them 
on board upon my taking " all the responsibility," which I 
did ; and I was not a little rejoiced that no injury resulted 
from it. There was not a case of yellow fever on board. 
The Texian prisoners all called to see and take leave of me 
in New Orleans, and it occurred, in more than half-a-dozen 
instances, that after beginning to express their gratitude to 
me they would burst into tears, and could not finish what 
they had intended to say. They could have made no 
speech half so eloquent as those tears. I advanced to the 
prisoners of the Santa Fe Expedition a sum which I thought 
was sufficient to have defrayed their expenses home ; but 
they were unavoidably detained five or six weeks longer 
than I had anticipated, and must have been subjected to 
extreme suffering if Mr. Hargoos, an American merchant in 

LofC. 



100 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. IX. 

Vera Cruz, had not, with a liberahty which has few exam- 
ples, advanced them more than ten thousand dollars. 

When the late Mr. Forsyth was American Minister in 
Spain, he obtained the discharge of some Americans who 
had been made prisoners in Mexico, during the war of In- 
dependence. They were all sent to the United States at 
the expense of our government, and the charges were paid. 
I thought this precedent justified me in sending home the 
Texians, who were natives of this country. I could see no 
substantial difference in the two cases. Besides this, the 
English and Prussian ministers in Mexico sent home the 
Englishmen and Germans who belonged to the expedition, 
at the charge of their respective governments, and I had 
been instructed to use all my influence to obtain the dis- 
charge of the Texians — not surely to let them starve, 
which they must otherwise have done. The advances 
made by me were paid by the government. Those made 
by Mr. Hargoos have not been paid. I have never 
been able to see any reason for the discrimination. It is 
true, that I did not positively pledge myself to Mr. Har- 
goos that his advances would be paid by the government. 
If I had done so, I should have felt bound to pay him, if the 
government did not, and had I the means of paying so 
large an amount. But I sent him the precedent in the case 
of the prisoners sent home by Mr. Forsyth, and said to him, 
that I did not doubt that our government would pay him. 
I still do not doubt that if the claim were presented to Con- 
gress that it would be paid. 



CHAPTER X. 

Catholic Ceremonies— Procession of the Host— Corpus Christi Day — Our 
Lady of Remedies — Connection of the Image with the early History of 
Mexico — Present state of its Worship. 

The things which most strike an American on his first 
arrival in Mexico, are the processions, ceremonies, and 
mummeries of the CathoUc worship, of which I would 
fain hope there are more in Mexico than in any other coun- 
try. The natural proneness of every ignorant people to 
regard the external symbols and ceremonies of religion, 
and an incapacity to appreciate its true spirit and subhme 
truths, give to the Catholic ritual, with all its pomp and 
circumstance, its pictures, statues, processions, and im- 
posing ceremonial, peculiar power and influence. Yet 
through these conditions it may be that in a merely 
temporal point of view, it is the best for such a people. 
For the Christian religion, however it may be degraded, 
is immeasurably superior to all others, and it may be 
well, therefore, that ignorant people, who are inacces- 
sible by mere rational means, to the great truths which 
it teaches, and the sublime morality which it incul- 
cates, should have those truths and that morality impress- 
ed upon them in the only way in which it is practica- 
ble, by external objects, such as images, and the like. And 
I am satisfied that much good is accomplished in this way. 
But as to any rational idea of true religion, or any just con- 
ception of its divine author, the great mass are little more 
enlightened than were their ancestors in the time of Monte- 



102 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. X. 

zuma. And their religion is very little less an idolatry 
than that of the grotesque images of stone and clay, of 
which it has taken the place. There is scarcely an hour 
in the day when the little bells are not heard in the street, 
announcing that some priest is on his way to administer 
the sacrament to some one sick or dying. The priest is 
seated in a coach, drawn by two mules, followed by ten or 
a dozen friars, with lighted wax candles, chanting as they 
go. The coach is preceded by a man who rings a small 
bell to announce the approach of the Host ; when every 
one who happens to be in the street is expected to uncover 
himself and kneel, and the inmates of all the houses on the 
street do the same thing. Nothing is more common than 
to hear them exclaim, whenever they hear the bell, " Dios 
viene, Dios viene," — God is coming, God is coming; when, 
whatever they may be doing, they instantly fall on their 
knees. What I have described is the visit of the Host to 
some common person. The procession is more or less 
numerous, and the person in the coach of more or less dig- 
nity, from an humble priest to the archbishop of Mexico, 
according to the dignity and station of the person visited. 
Sometimes the procession is accompanied by a large band 
of music. The visit of the Host to the Senora Santa Anna, 
of which I have heretofore spoken, was attended by a pro- 
cession of twenty thousand people, headed by the arch- 
bishop. Until very recently, every one was required to 
kneel, and a very few years since an American shoemaker 
was murdered in his shop for refusing to do it. But now 
they are satisfied if you pull off your hat and stop until the 
Host passes. 

Shortly after my arrival in Mexico, the day of Corpus 
Christi was celebrated with unusual pomp. The street for 
near a. mile from the palace, thence down another street 



CHAP. Xo] PROCESSION OF THE HOST. 103 

for some distance, and thence back again to the palace, 
was canopied with canvass, under which a procession of 
thirty or forty thousand persons marched, followed by pro- 
bably twice the number, who did not constitute a part of 
the regular parade. Of this procession some eight or ten 
thousand were Mexican troops, with their gaudily capari- 
soned horses, and the officers in their glittering uniforms. 

At the head of the procession was a sort of platform or 
litter, upon which the host was carried by some of the 
highest dignitaries of the church. At a short distance fol- 
lowed on a similar litter, " Nuestra Senora de las Reme- 
dies," Our Lady of Remedies — a little alabaster doll, with 
the nose broken, and the eye out. It would be an unpar- 
donable omission in. any sketches of Mexico, not to notice 
her ladyship, the Virgin of Remedies, as it is one of the 
two superstitions peculiar to that country, and of all others, 
perhaps, the one most important, and the most gene- 
rally believed. The story is this : After the first entrance 
of Cortes into the city of Mexico, and he had seized Monte- 
zuma in his palace, surrounded by his guards, and carried 
him through the streets of Mexico, to his own quarters, and 
by this daring act acquired an absolute power over him, and 
through him over his countrymen, it seemed that the 
conquest of the country was complete, and that the Span- 
ish power was firmly established there ; so true is it, that 
often in a crisis of real danger the greatest audacity is 
the highest wisdom. 

Diego Velasquez, the Governor of Cuba, who first pro- 
jected the expedition to Mexico, and appointed Cortes to 
the chief command, became jealous of him just as the ex- 
pedition was about to sail, and revoked his authority. But 
Cortes was not the man to be thus trifled with and thwart- 
ed, and set sail in defiance of the orders of Velasquez, who 



104 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [CHAP. X. 

hearing of the wonderful success which had crowned the 
enterprise, fitted out another large expedition of more than 
thirteen hundred men, the command of which was given to 
Pamphilo Narvaes, with orders to proceed to Mexico, and 
supersede Cortes in his government. Narvaes arrived in 
Vera Cruz about the time that Cortes had, by the most won- 
derful combination of consummate wisdom and daring 
courage, established the Spanish power firmly in Mexico. 

But a new danger greater than any through which he 
had passed, great as they certainly were, presented itself, 
and one which would have been fatal to almost any other 
than that wonderful man. He had only about four hun- 
dred and fifty men in all ; but he at once resolved with two 
hundred and seventy of these to proceed to Vera Cruz and 
attack Narvaes, and left Pedro Alvarado, his favorite cap- 
tain, in command of the residue in the city of Mexico. 

Cortes marched at once to Vera Cruz, where he met and 
vanquished Narvaes at the head of his thirteen hundred 
men. Narvaes himself was made prisoner. On the re- 
turn of Cortes to Mexico, although his forces were greatly 
augmented by the defeat of Narvaes, the dangers to which 
he was exposed had increased in an infinitely greater de- 
gree. During his absence Alvarado had attacked and mas- 
sacred a large number of the Mexicans whilst they were 
assembled at a festival (it was said for the purpose of get- 
ting possession of the jewels which they wore). This ex- 
cited the Mexicans to fury and madness, and on the return 
of Cortes to Mexico he found the whole city and country 
in a state of revolt He was attacked incessantly day and 
night, and at last, unable to hold out longer, he determined 
to abandon the city. Mexico was at that time surrounded 
on all sides by water, and was only connected with the 
land by three causeways. Cortes selected for his retreat 



CHAP. X.] OUR LADY OF REMEDIES. 105 

that which led to the town of Tacuba. The Mexicans had 
taken up the bridges, and the slaughter of the Spaniards 
was to the last degree horrible ; of thirteen hundred men 
a little more than four hundred were all that escaped, and 
every one of these more or less severely wounded. He 
made his way, however, to the top of a high hill twelve 
miles from Mexico, where he halted and fortified himself, 
and in a day or two proceeded to the country of his faith- 
ful friends the Tlascalans. The night on which Cortes re- 
treated from Mexico, is to this day famihar to every Mexi- 
can as noche triste, the woful or sorrowful night. This 
hasty sketch of a deeply exciting passage in the history of 
the Conquest, brings us to " our Lady of Remedies." 

During the few days which Cortes remained on the 
hill which I have mentioned, he found in the knapsack of 
one of his soldiers, a small alabaster doll, about eight 
inches high, with the nose broken and one eye out, which 
the soldier had brought with him from Spain. The poor 
remnant of his army were of course despondent and broken- 
spirited, and in that age of fanaticism (and never was an 
army in Palestine animated with a higher degree of reli- 
gious enthusiasm than were the conquerors of Mexico), 
Cortes determined to avail himself of the wooden doll 
which had providentially, it would seem, been thrown in his 
way. He exhibited it to his soldiers, and told them that it 
was an image of the Virgin Mary, which she had sent him 
from heaven, and that she had promised him that she 
would intercede for them, cure their wounds, secure them 
a safe return to their Tlascalan allies, and afterwards the 
certain conquest of Mexico. Cortes made, or rather cut 
his way back to Tlascala with the small remnant of his 
army, and afterwards again invaded and conquered Mex- 
ico. 

6* 



106 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. X. 

One of the first things which he did after completing the 
conquest was to build a chapel on the top of the hill to 
which he retreated on the noche trisle, which he dedicated 
to the Virgin Mary of Remedies. In this chapel he placed 
the miraculous image, where it has been kept for more than 
three hundred years with wax candles always burning, and 
maids of honor in constant attendance. I asked a gentle- 
man connected with the church, what was the value of the 
diamonds worn by the image of our Lady of Remedies when 
I saw it in the procession. He said he did not know ; but 
that her whole wardrobe and jewels were worth more 
than a million of dollars. Amongst these are different petti- 
coats of diamonds, pearls, and emeralds. On special occa- 
sions, our Lady of Remedies is carried to the city, such as 
the prevalence of the cholera, or other pestilence. When 
it is found that the disease is abating in a particular quar- 
ter of the city, the image is carried there ; if the disease 
disappears, it is of course the work of " our Lady of Re- 
medies ;" if it continues, it is attributed to the sins of the 
people, which are said to be so great that the powerful in- 
tercession of the mother of God cannot avail to have them 
pardoned. The cures of our Lady of Remedies, like those 
of humbler physicians, are by no means gratuitous, but her 
services are a source of large revenue to the church. 

The reader will naturally ask, does any one believe such 
an absurdity ? I answer yes ! Everybody believes it, and 
it would be regarded in Mexico little less than blasphemy 
to doubt it. As a proof of this I will mention one or two 
facts. 

The anniversary of the presentation of this image to 
Cortes is religiously observed, and of all the religious festi- 
vals in Mexico it is the most numerously attended. This 
anniversary is in August. I had some curiosity to witness 



CHAP. X.] PRESENT STATE OF WORSHIP. 107 

it, and rode out to the chapel, twelve miles from Mexico. 
I can form no accurate estimate of the immense concourse 
which was assembled. If I were to say fifty thousand, I 
might be under the mark ; if I were to say a hundred 
thousand, I might not be over it. 

Besides those who had come as a religious duty, thou- 
sands had gone there for the amusements, games, and mum- 
meries which are practised on such occasions; and the 
diseased from all quarters came there to be cured. As I 
entered the church I saw a poor Indian woman kneeling 
before a priest, a white man, with a sick child in her arms. 
She kissed the hand of the priest, and then handed him two 
or three coppers, which were worth more than every arti- 
cle of clothing which she had on, and perhaps more than 
everything else which she possessed in the world. When 
I caught the eye of the priest,! will not say that he winked 
at me, but there was a certain sinister leer, the meaning of 
which could not have been mistaken, and which I interpret- 
ed as saying to me, " You, and I understand these things." 
I thought of Dives and Lazarus, and I do not doubt that in 
another world the resemblance will continue. I thought, 
too, of the simple, unostentatious, and sincere worship in 
my own country — a worship of spirit and of truth — and I 
could not help asking myself, Is it indeed the same God 
which we worship, the same religion which we profess ? I 
wished to see the doll, and was at first told that it could not 
be seen, but when Mr. Black, the American consul, who 
accompanied me, announced that I was the minister of the 
United States, a servant was sent to show it to me ; for the 
title el ministro, the minister, or other high station, is an 
" open sesame " to everything in Mexico. A deference is 
paid to station to which we are, and I hope will long re- 
main, unaccustomed. I was carried to a handsome altar, 



108 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. X. 

where the image stands, but found, to my regret, that the 
origmal was not there. It had been carried to Mexico 
when the Senora Santa Anna was sick, and had not been 
returned. There was, however, a small wax doll in its 
place, as its deputy, decked off with diamonds and other 
jewels not of any great value. I went shortly afterwards 
to the cathedral, in Mexico, to see the original, which was, 
as I have described it, a small mutilated alabaster doll ; and 
having the weather-beaten appearance which a service in 
two or three campaigns in the conquest of Mexico had 
caused. Various are the stories of the attempts to repair 
the injured nose and supply the lost eye, all of which have 
ended in the death of the daring sinner who would attempt 
to improve an image made in heaven. 

It was this miserable doll which I saw carried in that 
magnificent procession of which I have spoken, in which 
were all the high dignitaries of the government, the church, 
and the army ; and following immediately the Host itself, 
which Catholics believe to be Christ in the flesh. 

I would remark here a fact which surprised me very 
much. All know that the doctrine of the real presence in 
the eucharist is a cardinal point in the Catholic creed, the 
sanguinary conflicts which this dogma has given rise to, and 
the controversies arising out of two Greek words, the only 
diflference between which is a single letter — yet I never 
asked the question of a Catholic in Mexico, and I did so of 
more than fifty of all classes, from foreign ministers to 
coachmen and servants, who believed it any more than I 
did. Whenever I asked the question, " Do you really be- 
lieve that the bread and wine used in the sacrament are the 
flesh and blood of Christ ?" the reply in almost every in- 
stance was the same as that made to me by more than one 
member of the diplomatic corps who were Catholics and 



CHAP. X.] PRESENT STATE OF WORSHIP. 109 

educated gentlemen. " What, Sir, do you think that I am 
a fool ? no, I believe no such thing. I believe it is a type, 
an emblem, but nothing more." I replied, " Then you are 
no Catholic ; ask your priest, and he will tell you so." They 
answered, " Very well, we have never before heard of it, 
but if the priests say so we have no doubt that it is tri^e, 
for their lives are dedicated to these studies and they know 
more about it than we do." 

Can free institutions exist in a country where such 
a state of things exist. Are men either capable of 
breaking the shackles of despotism, or maintaining free in- 
stitutions, who delegate to others the privilege and authori- 
ty of thinking for them on matters involving their eternal 
welfare ? 

There was an Irish priest who lived many years in 
Mexico, and now, I believe, lives in Texas — Padre Mal- 
doun. He abandoned the Catholic church, and gave as his 
reason, that on one occasion a portion of the bread which 
was used in the sacrament was left, and that the rats ate it, 
which they would not of course have done if it had really 
been the flesh of God incarnate. 

Many are the stories, however, which the Catholics relate 
of fowls and hungry dogs refusing to touch bread which 
had been thus consecrated. 

I reserve for another chapter the other great superstition 
peculiarly Mexican, which is in no degree less absurd and 
ridiculous than that of our Lady of Remedies. 



CHAPTER XL 

Religious Drama — " Mystery" of the Nativity — The Virgin of Guadaloupe — 
Sincerity of Mexican Churchmen exhibited in a Scene of Penance — 
Morality of the Clergy. 

Amongst the dramatic representations in Mexico, mys- 
teries or religious dramas are very common on occasions 
of certain festivals — some of them of a character not a 
little shocking to the eyes and ears of a Protestant. Not 
an unusual piece on Christmas-Eve is the representation of 
the Nativity. Joseph appears on a mule with Mary behind 
him, seeking for lodgings all over the city of Bethlehem, 
and at last they enter the stable — vv^here the accouche- 
ment takes place not in the sight but in the hearing of the 
audience, with all those circumstances equally revolting to 
decency and a just respect for holy things. I have seen a 
similar representation of the story of the virgin of 
Guadaloupe, and have now a copy of the drama ; it 
was at the theatre " de los gallos," " Theatre of the chicken 
cocks," a very large edifice formerly used as a cock-pit but 
now converted into a theatre. The story is this : 

In the year 1531, the Spaniards thinking that the Indians 
were not converted fast enough to nuestra santa fe (our 
holy faith) as they always called it, set on foot the follow- 
ing contrivance : — An Indian Juan Diego (John James) 
was going to Mexico early in the morning, and as he was 
passing over the mountain three miles from the city, he saw 
a female descending from the clouds. He was terribly 



CHAP. XI.] THE VIRGIN OF GUADALOUPE. Ill 

frightened of course, but the figure, which turned out to 
be the Virgin Mother, told him not to be alarmed, that she 
was the Virgin Mary ; that she had determined to become the 
patron saint of the Mexican Indians, and to take them under 
her especial protection ; and that he must go to the city and 
tell the bishop that she wished to have a church built at the 
foot of the mountain, and dedicated to her as the patroness 
of the Mexicans. The poor Indian flew to the city, and 
when admitted into the presence of the bishop delivered 
the message. The bishop was incredulous and drove him 
off. The next day he met the Virgin by appointment 
at the same place, and told her that the bishop would not 
believe him. " Very well," said she, " do you meet me here 
to-morrow at the same hour, and I will give you a proof 
which the bishop will not doubt." Punctual to his appoint- 
ment Juan Diego went the next day and had another inter- 
view with the Virgin. She told him to go up to the top of 
the mountain and he would find the ground covered with 
roses, to fill his apron with them and carry them to the 
bishop. The Indian found the roses, and as none had ever 
grown there, they were, of course, placed there by a mira- 
cle ; he filled his apron and went again to the bishop, con- 
fident in the miraculous evidence of the truth of his state- 
ments which he carried with him. When he opened his 
apron to exhibit the roses he found to his utter consternation 
that there had been painted upon it by another miracle a 
portrait of the Virgin, dressed not like the poor carpenter's 
wife, but in a gorgeous cloak of blue velvet with stars of 
gold all over it. The bishop could not, of course, resist 
such evidence as that. The church was ordered to be 
built, the Indians all contributed whatever they had, and 
came into the fold by thousands. The Mexicans were not 
like other people whose patron saints were mere common 



112 EECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XI. 

mortals ; the Mother of God herself was theh-s. The ori- 
ginal miraculous portrait in a rich frame of gold inlaid with 
diamonds and pearls, is still to be seen in the church which 
was built, and almost every Mexican has one of more or 
less value in his house, and of every variety from cheap 
engravings to the most costly paintings ; below the picture 
are these characteristic Latin words, " Non fecit taliter 
omni nationi." When I first went to Mexico, I was look- 
ing at one of these paintings, and I asked a friend who was 
with me what they meant ? Why, said he, they mean that 
she has never made such cursed fools of any other people. 
There never was a more accurate translation, although not 
very literal ; the Mexicans, doubtless, would say that it was 
not a very liberal one. 

If the reader should again ask, and does anybody believe 
this ? I answer, that on the anniversary of this miracle I 
went to the church of Guadaloupe where more than fifty 
thousand people were assembled, amongst them the Presi- 
dent Bravo and all his cabinet, the archbishop, and in short 
everybody in high station in Mexico. An oration in 
commemoration of the event was delivered by a distin- 
guished member of the Mexican congress. He described 
all the circumstances of the affair as I have given them, 
but with all the extravagance of Mexican rhetoric, just as 
one of our fourth of July orators would narrate the events 
of the Revolution. The President and others exchanged 
all the while smiles and glances of pride and exultation. 

The church is the most beautiful building of the kind I ever 
saw ; it is not so large and imposing, and there is a less 
gorgeous display of "barbaric gold" than the cathedral, 
but upon the whole it appeared much more beautiful. 
Instead of the balustrade partly of gold of the cathedral it 
has one of pure silver, and of the same size as that in the 



CHAP. XI.] THE VIRGIN OF GUADALOUPE. 113J 

cathedral. Most of the vases, waiters, candlesticks, &c.,. 
are of the same metal. 

But I do not know why such things as these which 11 
have been describing should excite " our special wonder." 
Are there not stories equally ridiculous which are believed 
in other Catholic countries. Saint Nicholas is the patron 
saint of boys, because, as the tradition goes, a friend had. 
sent his two sons to St. Nicholas to be educated by him ; 
on their journey they were murdered by the innkeeper 
where they lodged. This being revealed to St. Nicholas 
in a dream, he repaired to the place, and found the inn- 
keeper boiling the flesh and bones of the boys to make soap 
of them. St. Nicholas, by a miracle, restored them to Hfe.. 
I have often seen engravings representing the miracle. 

There are few edifices in the world held in so devout: 
reverence as the convent of St. Catharine, on Mount Sinai, 
the history of the building of which on that desert moun- 
tain, as I understand it, is this : — St. Catharine died in- 
Alexandria, and long afterwards appeared to a pious monk 
in a dream, and told him that her bones had been removed, 
by a miracle, to Mount Sinai, and that she wished the 
convent to be built on the spot. Upon examination, a 
human skeleton was found imbedded in the solid rock, — of 
course the bones of St. Catharine, and carried there by ai 
miracle. The convent and temple were erected, and it is 
said to be one of the most beautiful structures in the world ; 
none, perhaps, is held in greater reverence. But I feel that 
I am treading on dangerous ground. The fault is not mine 
for describing these things as I have seen them. I quarrel 
with no man for his religious opinions ; but I have a right 
to discuss them, and to describe the rites and ceremonies 
as I have seen them. No one can doubt the sincerity of the 
professors of a religion, so many heroic martyrs of which 
have perished at the stake, and which for so long a time 



114 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XI. 

was the only Christian church ; and, even now, can boast 
of a larger number than all other Christian sects united. I 
believe that they are at least as sincere in the great cardinal 
principles of their faith as the Protestants are ; that is, the 
great body of the church, I cannot say as much for the 
^priests ; and, I must say, that in that greatest of virtues, 
■charity, in all its forms, they are greatly superior to us. 
There is scarcely a desert upon the face of the earth which 
CathoUc charity has not penetrated. It was the remark 
• of Cook, the great traveller, that he never, in any country, 
applied to a woman for relief that he did not receive it, if 
it was in her power to bestow it. I doubt not that he 
might have said the same thing of the Catholic priests. 
Their houses are always the abodes of hospitality and 
benevolence. 

I have seen, in the church of San Augustin, one or two 
hundred people assembled at night ; the chapel was dark- 
ened, and they took off their clothes and lacerated them- 
selves severely with pieces of hard, twisted cord, made like 
a cat-o'-nine-tails. It was not such a flogging as Sancho 
gave himself to disenchant Dulcinea, but a real bond fide 
castigation. Of this I have no doubt, for I picked up one 
of the disciplinas, the instrument used, and it was wet and 
soaked with blood. I stood at the door as the penitents 
'Came out, and recognized amongst them some of the most 
respectable people in Mexico. No one in his senses can 
doubt the sincerity of those who will voluntarily inflict such 
torture upon themselves. 

There was an amusing incident connected with this 
scene of self-castigation. Some'mischievous boys (for boys 
are pretty much the same in Mexico as everywhere else) 
had contrived to get into the church, and for fear that the 
whipping would not be well done, they commenced opera- 
tions themselves. They were discovered, perhaps, from 



CHAP. XI.] MORALITY OF THE CLERGY. 115 

the greater severity of their blows than those which the 
men were inflicting on themselves, and there was a great 
commotion for a short time. The whipping lasted for ten 
or fifteen minutes, and the sound was very much like the 
pattering of hail. 

I do not think that the clergy of Mexico, with very 
few exceptions, are men of as much learning as the 
Catholic clergy generally are in other countries. The 
lower orders of the priests and friars are generally entirely 
uneducated, and, I regret to add, as generally licentious. 
There is no night in the year that the most revolting spec- 
tacles of vice and immorality, on the part of the priests and 
friars, are not to be seen in the streets of Mexico. I have 
never seen any class of men who so generally have such a 
" rou6 " appearance as the priests and fi-iars whom one 
constantly meets in the streets. Of the higher orders and 
more respectable members of the priesthood, I cannot speak 
with the same confidence ; if they are vicious, they are not 
publicly and indecently so. Very many of them have 
several nephews and nieces in their houses, or, at least, 
those who call them uncle. The reason given for the in- 
junction of celibacy, that those who are dedicated to the 
priesthood should not be encumbered with the care of a 
family, is, I think, in Mexico, much more theoretical than 
practical. 

I cannot close these remarks without saying that there 
are men who belong to the Priesthood of Mexico, whose 
pure, virtuous, and self-sacrificing lives would make them 
ornaments of any Christian sect in any age or country, — 
the Bishop of California for instance, who, after spending 
the prime of his life in doing the work of his Divine Master, 
returned to Mexico utterly destitute, and lived on charity. 
He had all his life been in the receipt of a large income, all 
of which he had expended in charities. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Museum — Old Indian Weapons at the period of the Conquest — Hiero- 
glyphics — Armor of Cortes — Journal of Bernal Diaz — Pedro de Alva- 
rado — The Stone of Sacrifice. 

Op the sights in the city of Mexico, the museum may be 
considered the first and most important. To an antiquary, 
it presents many curious things. CatHn would luxuriate in 
it. But it contains little else than Indian antiquities — 
the instruments of war used by the Mexicans at the period 
of the conquest, bows and arrows, lances, swords, cotton 
armor and their wooden drums, the sound of which is 
described by Bernal Diaz, " was like a sound from hell." 
Many of these weapons are precisely the same as those 
used in former times by our own Indians. The most curi- 
ous of these is the sword described by Bernal Diaz, as 
"espada como navajas — a sword like razors^ It was a 
wooden staff, four or five feet long, with four blades, about 
ten inches in length, and shaped like a razor, inserted on 
each side at right angles, with the staff. These blades are 
made of obsidian volcanic glass, in which the country 
abounds, and which is not distinguishable from the glass of 
a black bottle, and is quite as brittle. Yet Bernal Diaz 
says, that he has seen a horse's head cut entirely off with 
one of these swords. There is also in the museum, a mask 
made of this very fragile material, and having all the 
polish of the finest glass. 

There are some curious specimens of the paper used by 



CHAP. XII.] OLD INDIAN WEAPONS. 117 

the ancient Mexicans, made of one of a species of the 
cactus (of which there are in Mexico nearly two hundred 
varieties), with their still more curious hieroglyphic writing 
upon it. It is very much to be regretted that no Rosetta 
stone has yet been discovered, which furnishes a clew to 
Mexican Hieroglyphics. If this ever is done, most impor- 
tant information may be obtained, not only as to Mexican 
history, but of the creation, and the history of the human 
race. The discoverers not only of Mexico, but of His- 
paniola, Peru, and every other country on this continent, 
found the natives familiar with all the leading events in th^ 
history of man, up to the Deluge. Everything afterwards 
was a perfect blank. With some of them the story of Adam 
and Eve in the garden was almost identical with the 
scriptural account of it. There is in the museum in Mexico, 
an ancient Mexican painting of the Delude, the conception 
of which is very striking. Amongst other things, we see 
the Bird with a branch in its claw. A miniature copy of 
it may be seen in the Spanish edition of the Abb6 Clavi- 
gero's history of Mexico. 

The armor of Cortes is there also, and I confess that I 
never contemplated anything of the kind with so great an 
interest. Whilst looking at it I could well understand the 
Catholic veneration for relics. This was the armor in 
which he had fought all the bloody battles in that most 
romantic achievement in all history — the conquest of Mexico. 
For I declare that in reading the history of the conquest of 
Mexico by Bernal, the most enchanting book I ever read in 
any language, and in which the beauties of Ossian and 
Froissart are combined, I rose from the perusal more with 
the feeling that I had been reading an epic poem than a 
history. I felt as if I knew personally all the heroes of the 
Spanish army. Christoval, de Olid, Alvarado, Sandoval, 



118 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXrCO [cHAP. XII. 

and all, and when one of them was killed, I could almost 
have wept for him as for a brother. And here before me 
was the armor which had covered the limbs of that almost 
unequalled creature, that "miracle of men," Hernando 
Cortes, statesman, orator, hero, and consummate in all. 

Bernal Diaz was one of the officers of Cortes, and kept 
a regular journal, which he afterwards wrote out more 
fully. He came from the Department of Old Castile, 
where every one spoke and wrote with great purity ; and 
his history is the most reliable authority upon the Conquest 
of Mexico. The letters of Cortes are the reports of the 
commander of an army, and therefore, in some degree, 
wanting in details. Gomara obtained his facts from con- 
versations with Cortes and others of the conquerors, and 
the book of SoUs is more a romance than a history. Ber- 
nal Diaz describes what he himself saw, scenes in all 
of which he was an actor, and in the simple style of an old 
soldier recounting his battles by the fire-side, with occa- 
sional passages of great beauty and eloquence. It really 
seems to me that any other history of the Conquest is 
like a rhetorical version of Froissart.* 

* I regret to see that Mr. Prescott has fallen into some errors as to the 
" Old Chronicler," and, I think, underrates his work. He expresses sur- 
prise that Bernal Diaz should have remembered so minutely the incidents 
which he relates, after the lapse of fifty years, when his chronicle was 
written. Our distinguished countryman seems not to have noticed the 
fact, that Bernal Diaz kept a journal during the whole of the wars of the 
Conquest, in which he regularly noted the events as they occurred, and 
afterwards wrote it out, as he says, " en limpio." 

I think that Mr. Prescott is also mistaken in supposing that he was 
entirely uneducated. The many classical and historical allusions with 
which the work abounds, prove his learning. The licentiates to whom 
he submitted his history, admitted that it was written in pure Castilian. 
The style is not rhetorical, it is true, and in my humble judgment it is 
none the worse for that. I am a lover of nature in all things, and I think 



CHAP. XII.] PEDRO ALVARADO. 119 

The armor of Pedro Alvarado, the greatest of Cortes' 
captains, was also in the museum. It was offered for sale 
together with his commission to Mr. Mayer, the secretary 
of the American legation, for a hundred dollars ; but he 
very properly declined purchasing them until they had first 
been offered to the superintendent of the museum, by whom 
they were secured. I found them both too small for me, 
Cortes was of very much the same stature as Napoleon, 
and like him was very thin when a young man, but later in 
life became corpulent. The armor of Alvarado was even 
smaller than that of Cortes. I believe that very few of the 
suits of armor, some of which are to be found in all parts of 
Europe, are large enough for the men of the present day. 
In looking at one of these coats of mail the incredulity with 
which one reads the accounts of the battles of the conquest, 
when a hundred Spaniards resisted such swarms of Mexi- 

that the secret of true beauty, in everything, is simplicity and naturalness. 
In composition, eloquence and architecture, there is the greater perfection, 
in proportion to the nearer approach to the works of the great architect. So 
thought the Greeks, who have left us the finest models. One looks in vain 
for pretty places in a Grecian column, or in the Oration de Corona ; but as 
a whole each is perfect Who does not prefer the simple beauty of the 
scriptures, the natural eloquence of the book of Job, or the noble subli- 
mity of the Psalms of David, to the stately strut of Gibbon .' My own 
opinion of the narrative of Bernal Diaz is, that it is written in a style of 
great beauty, although simple and unambitious; one which secures the 
untiring interest of the reader, the deepest sympathy with the actors in the 
scenes which he describes, and leaves the most lasting impression upon the 
mind of the reader. He makes you acquainted with all the peculiarities 
of the person and character of each of his heroes. You sleep with them, 
watch with them, jest with them, and fight with them. You even know 
their horses, and a dramatic efifect is thus given to the narrative. You 
charge with that being of romance Sandoval, upon his horse Motilla, and 
assist Cortes to mount Romo and escape from the Mexican squadrons that 
surround him ; and when the horse falls down the mountain and crushes 
Alvarado, you almost feel that your own bones are broken. 



120 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XII. 

cans, is very much diminished. It is a perfect covering of 
pohshed steel for the w^hole body, leaving the wearer only 
vulnerable at the joints ; and with such arms as the Mexi- 
cans used it must have been an accident, and a very rare 
one, that it was penetrated. The horse was almost as 
effectually protected ; besides the covering of other parts, 
all his body from the saddle back was protected with an 
" anquera" which was made of the thickest bull's hide, and 
which was attached to the saddle and covered all the rump 
of the horse down to his hocks. The lower part of this 
anquera had small pieces of iron attached to it like fringe, 
which jingled like bells. This last was an invention of 
Cortes to strike his Indian enemies with the greater terror. 

Nothing more illustrates the tenacity with which the 
Spaniards adhere to all their old customs and habits, and 
which has made them so striking an exception to the 
advancement which is observed in every other country, in 
this age of progress, than the fact that these anqueras are 
still in general use in Mexico ; no horse is fully caparisoned 
without one. And this is by no means confined to the 
military, but private gentlemen also use them, many of them 
costing a sum which would seem incredible — bedizened 
all over with that profusion of silver and sometimes of gold, 
and other excessive and gaudy ornaments which charac- 
terize everything Mexican. Nothing can be more grotesque 
than the appearance of the horse ; his approach is announced 
for some time in advance by the jingling of the iron appen- 
dages of the auquera. 

It was Alvarado, whose extraordinary personal beauty 
induced them to give him the name of Tonatiuh (the sun). 
He survived the completion of the conquest, and was 
appointed Adelantado of Guatemala, and had projected a 
large expedition of discovery in the Pacific ocean, for 



CHAP. XII.] PEDRO ALVARADO. 121 

which the ships were all finished and ready to sail, when 
he went to suppress an insurrectionary movement amongst 
some of the Indian tribes. As he was ascending a moun- 
tain, on the sides of which the Spaniards and Indians were 
engaged in battle, one of the horses was wounded, and 
tumbling down the mountain fell upon and crushed Alva- 
rado. Nothing can be more touching than the account 
by Bernal Diaz, of his death and the grief of his wife. 
There is a street in Mexico which still bears his name, 
and commemorates the extraordinary leap which he made 
across one of the canals from which the bridge had been 
removed on the Noche Triste. It is called " El salto de 
Alvarado," Alvarado's leap. Bernal Diaz, however, says 
that Alvarado never made the leap, active as he was. He 
says, " As there are still certain persons who have never 
seen the place, and know nothing about it, who will insist 
that Alvarado did certainly make this leap the night when 
we went flying from Mexico ; 1 again assert that he could 
not possibly have done it. And in proof of this, there 
is the bridge and the water at this day, with the same 
height of the bridge, and the same depth of water as for- 
merly — and the bridge is so high and the water so deep that 
it is not possible to have reached the bottom with a lance. 
There was a soldier in Mexico whose name was Ocampo, 
who was in the habit of writing pasquinades and infamous 
libels against many of our captains, in which he would 
put many ugly things which ought not to be repeated 
for they were not true, and amongst other things against 
Alvarado, he said that having left his friend Juan Velas- 
quez de Leon and two hundred of the soldiers, besides the 
cavalry which belonged to the rear-guard, to perish, he 
escaped himself by this great leap, as the proverb has it, 
' He jumped and saved his life.' Whether he made the 



122 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XII. 

leap or not he was a glorious hero, such an one as the 
world has not often seen since the discovery of gunpowder, 
which has had pretty much the same effect upon individual 
heroism as that of the discovery of the art of printing on 
eloquence." 

A colossal bronze statue of Charles the Fourth of Spain 
stands in the court-yard of the same building where the 
museum is kept. It was designed by a Mexican artist, 
Tolsa, and cast by another Mexican ; the latter, I think, an 
Indian. It is said by competent judges not to be surpassed 
by more than two similar works in the world. 

They have there also the great sacrificial stone upon 
which human victims were sacrificed. It is a large mass of 
stone some four feet high, and eight feet in diameter, of cir- 
cular form, with figures in relief, elaborately cut on the top 
and sides. I think that it is the best specimen of sculpture 
which I have seen amongst the antiquities of Mexico. It 
is a curious problem how they were able to cut stone with- 
out other instruments than those made of copper, jade and 
obsidian. 

It was the custom that the captive or other victim to be 
sacrificed fought seven of their best gladiators ; if he was 
victorious his life was spared, but if vanquished he was 
placed on this stone and his heart taken out, and whilst yet 
palpitating it was offered to their God. That this was 
really the sacrificial stone there can be no doubt, as the 
Spaniards were themselves made to witness the sacrifice at 
one time of sixty-two of their companions who fell into 
the hands of the Mexicans at the battle of the " Narrow 
Causeway," in Mexico, where Cortes was in such immi- 
nent pei'il. Bernal Diaz thus describes the scene : 

" And again the great drum of Huichilobos (the idol) sounded with 
many smaller drums, and shells, whistles and a kind of small trumpets, 



CHAP. "XLI.] THE STONE OF SACRIFICE. 123 

the combined sounds of which were most sad and frightful ; and when we 
looked above to the lofty idol temple whence the sounds came, we saw 
them pushing and buffeting our companions whom they had made prison- 
ers when they defeated Cortes, as they were carrying them to be sacri- 
ficed; and when they had arrived at the top of this temple where their 
accursed idols were kept, they put plumes on the heads of some of the 
prisoners, and made them dance before Huicholobos (their idol), and 
immediately after they had finished dancing, they laid them on their backs 
on stones, which had been made for such sacrifices, and with knives 
made of flint they cut open their breasts and took out their hearts, and 
while they were yet palpitating offered them to their idols. The bodies 
they threw down the steps to the Indian butchers, who were waiting 
below to receive them, who cut ofi" the arms and legs, and skinned the 
faces, which, with the beards on, they dressed as skins are dressed to 
make gloves. These they exhibited at their feasts, and in this manner 
they were all sacrificed. They ate the arms and legs, the hearts and 
blood were offered to their idols, and the other parts of their bodies were 
thrown to the lions, tigers, and serpents which were kept in the menage- 
ries, which I have described in a former chapter. All these cruelties 
were seen from our tent by Pedro Alvarado, and Sandoval, and all our 
other captains. The curious readers of this narrative will imagine what 
our grief must have been, and we said amongst ourselves, oh, thanks to 
God that they have not also sacrificed me, and let it also be considered 
that although we were not far off, we could not prevent it, but could 
only pray to God that he would save us from so cruel a death. At that in- 
stant large squadrons of Mexican warriors came charging upon us, and 
all our efforts to repulse them seemed unavailing. They said to us, ' You 
all have to die in the same manner, for our gods have often times so pro- 
mised us.' The threats which they uttered to our Tlascalan friends 
were so horrid as to terrify them greatly ; they would throw to them the 
legs of Indians, and the arms of our soldiers which they had roasted, 
saying, eat the flesh of these Teudes,* and of your brothers, for we are 
satiated, and of those which are left you may fill yourselves." 

The author, Bernal Diaz, in a subsequent part of his his- 
tory, says, that although men are generally frightened by the 

* A word meaning gods, which the Mexicans applied to the Spaniards. 



124 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. XII. 

first battle in which they are engaged, and rarely after- 
wards, yet he frankly confesses, that although before he 
witnessed this sacrifice, he had been in many and perilous 
battles, and had never been conscious of trembling, yet that 
he was a coward ever afterwards, and never went into 
battle without a certain sinking and sickness of the heart. 
I could fill many pages with descriptions of other things 
which are to be seen in the museum in Mexico. But as I 
have very little taste for such aflfairs, I must refer the reader 
to the interesting volume of M. Brantz Mayer, whose de- 
scriptions are very full and accurate. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The New Theatre — Market — x\lameda — The Paseo — Aqueducts — Water 
Carriers — Drones — Great National Pawn Shop — A Necklace of Pearls — 
Four Diamond Rings — Anecdotes of a Revolutionary country. 

The new Theatre in the street Bergard, which was 
finished in 1843, is said to be the finest in the world, except 
that of Saint Carlos at Naples. I can conceive of nothing 
of the kind more elegant in its architecture, or perfect in 
its arrangements. I have seen in it a concourse estimated 
at seven or eight thousand, and it was not full. There are 
eight tiers of seats, with a pit sufficient to accommodate a 
larger audience than the whole of any ordinary theatre. 
In the rear of each box there is a room for the accommoda- 
tion of those who occupy the box. These boxes, in certain 
tiers, rent for two and three thousand dollars per annum, 
some of them I believe for even more. The whole thea- 
tre is lighted by splendid chandeliers. It was called the 
theatre of Santa Anna ; the name was of course changed 
after his fall by a people who were capable of disinterring 
the leg which he lost in a most heroic defence of 
Vera Cruz at the time when it was attacked by the 
French, and which had been brought to Mexico a few 
short months before, been buried with great pomp, and 
a funeral oration pronounced over it by a distinguished 
member of the Mexican Congress. 

With more truth in Mexico than in any other country 
may one say of popular applause and favor — 

" Thou many-headed monster thing, 
Oh who would wish to be thy king." 



126 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIII. 

The new Market just finished and also named in honor 
of Santa Anna, is admirably arranged for its purpose. 

Of all the spots in Mexico, the Alameda is the most 
beautiful. It is a public square on the western border 
of the city, containing about forty acres, enclosed by a 
stone wall. It is covered with a thick growth of poplar 
trees and hence the name ; the whole square is intersected 
with walks paved with flag-stones ; all these walks unite 
in the centre where there is a beautiful jet d'eau, and from 
this point they diverge in every direction, and again unite 
in four or five smaller circles. There is a carriage-way 
inside of the wall entirely surrounding the square. 

A short distance from the Alameda is the Paseo — the 
fashionable ride. It is a broad road just on the outside of 
the city, of perhaps a mile in length, and terminating at 
the aqueduct. Here everyone in Mexico who has a coach 
of his own, and every one who has not, who has money to 
pay the hire of a hackney coach, assemble, besides hundreds 
and often thousands of horsemen. I would say at a ven- 
ture that I have frequently seen a thousand carriages and 
more than five thousand horsemen on the Paseo. If I were 
now to return to Mexico, and desired to see any of my ac- 
quaintance, I would go to the Paseo, with the utmost confi- 
dence of meeting them there. It is just as much a habit 
of their lives to ride on the Paseo in the evening, and to go 
to the theatre at night, as it is to breakfast or dine. The 
carriages used by the ladies are always closed, but with 
pannels instead of curtains ; through the windows of their 
coaches they see and are seen by their lovers, exchange 
glances, and salute them most gracefully with their fans. 
In this way and almost in this way only, are the courtships 
conducted, and often for months and years, without the 
parties ever having exchanged a word with each other. 



CHAP. XIII.] AaUEDUCTS. 127 

So of the theatre ; it is not an occasional recreation, as 
with us, but a part, and by no means an unimportant part 
of the business of life. You are perfectly certain to meet 
the same faces every night of the year at the theatre. I 
once asked a very accomplished and elegant woman, who 
was the mother of eight or ten children, and whose family 
circle consisted of as many more persons — " Do you go, 
Madam, to the theatre every night ?" " Oh, yes, Sir," she 
replied, " how else could I possibly get through the even- 
ings ?" 

They have no fire-places in Mexico, and I think that this 
circumstance has a very great influence on their character. 
It is not easy to estimate the moral influence of these 
family reunions, to which we are accustomed, around the 
fireside on long winter evenings, which are passed in read- 
ing some excellent book, or in conversation not less in- 
structive. 

The two aqueducts by which the city is supplied with 
water, were constructed by the Vice Royal Government, 
and have the solid and substantial character of all Spanish 
architecture. The lower aqueduct is in precisely the same 
place as that which the Spaniards found there at the Con- 
quest, and by the destruction of which so much suffering 
was caused to the Mexicans. Its whole length is 133,426 
feet, a portion of which, however, is nothing more than a 
canal walled with stone. The other, the water of which 
is supplied by the Spring of Chapultepec, is only 10,826 feet 
in length. The aqueducts rest on stone arches about fif- 
teen feet high, and on these arches is a species of canal 
made of stone, through which the water flows. One ter- 
minates near the Alameda, which is on the outskirts of the 
city ; the other, at a greater distance. The water is car- 
ried into the city, and sold at a very small price by poor 



128 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIII. 

Indians (aquadores). They carry one very large stone jug 
on their back, with a leather band attached to it, which 
comes over the forehead, and another with a similar band 
over the back of the head, and the jug suspended in front. 
If either of these jugs is broken, the Indian of course falls, 
for the balance is most accurately adjusted. Nothing 
would be easier than to conduct the water in pipes into 
every house in the city, and at very small expense ; but 
this I suppose has never occurred to them ; and perhaps if 
it had, it would not have been done, as it would throw the 
aquadores, a numerous class, out of employment. I do not 
think that the addition which would thus be made to the 
immense number of idle leperos about the street would be 
at all noticed. 

In walking the streets of Mexico, it would be very safe 
to bet that eight out of every ten persons you would meet 
would be ojfficers, soldiers, priests, friars, or leperos, and it 
would be difficult to decide which class is the most nume- 
rous. All but the last of these classes are not only unpro- 
ductive, but a charge upon the country. It does not seem 
to me that the whole productive industry of the country, so 
far as the Mexicans are concerned, and excluding the pro- 
fits of the labor and capital of foreigners, would be suffi- 
cient to support these drones. 

I should not omit to notice the great national pawn-shop of 
Mexico, Monte Pio, the funds of which are supplied by the 
Government, an institution under the superintendence of 
Don Francisco Tagle, a distinguished and virtuous man. 
Persons who are pressed for money, and have anything 
whatever to pawn, take it there and have it valued, and 
receive in money two-thirds of the sum at which it is 
valued. They are allowed to keep the money for six 
months, at an interest of six per cent., when, if they are not 



CHAP. XIII.] GREAT NATIONAL PAWN SHOP. 129 

able to redeem the article which they have pawned, it is 
sold, provided the sum advanced with interest is bid for it ; 
if that is not the case, it is not sold. Whatever sum above 
that amount the article is sold for, is paid over to the 
owner. 

A very large and splendid building, on the public square, 
which was built by Cortes, and which, I believe, is still 
owned by his descendants, is appropriated to this institu- 
tion, very many rooms of which are filled with the infinite 
varieties of articles which have been pawned ; all of which 
the superintendent very kindly showed me. In one room 
are hung up old garments of the Indians, the larger portion 
of which are literally of no earthly value but to a paper 
manufacturer ; in another, the swords, epaulettes, and uni- 
forms of military oflicers, plate of every description, snuff- 
boxes set in diamonds, and sets of pearls and brilliants, one 
of which I saw being valued at ten thousand dollars. The 
effects of this institution are altogether beneficent, as many 
necessitous and ignorant people are saved by it from those 
harpies, pawnbrokers and usurers. 

The habit of accumulating jewels is always most common 
in revolutionary times and countries, as wealth is more 
portable, and, what is more important, more easily con- 
cealed in that than in any other form. I was very much 
struck with one instance of this, which came under my ob- 
servation. There was an old Indian woman, who sold 
vegetables at the house at which I stayed when I first went 
to Mexico ; she never wore stockings, nor any other arti- 
cles of clothing but a chemise and petticoat, and reboza (a 
long shawl). I noticed on her neck one day a strand of 
beads which looked like pearls, but it is very difiicult for 
one not acciistomed to them to distinguish the genuine 

pearls from the cheap imitations. I said to my hostess, 

7* 



130 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIII. 

" Of course those are not real pearls which that old woman 
wears," " Indeed," said she, " they are." I asked what 
was their value, and was told fifteen hundred or two thou- 
sand dollars. All the balance of her worldly gear was, 
doubtless, not worth ten dollars. I entered into conversa- 
tion with the old Indian woman, asked her why she had 
not laid out her money in something more useful, a house, 
for example. " Yes," said she, " and have it destroyed in 
some revolution, or have high taxes to pay for it ! No," she 
continued, " I am now secure against ever suffering ; when 
I am sick or very old, I can pawn this at Monte Pio, or sell 
them one at a time, as I have bought them." 

I will mention another instance of a similar character. 
A very worthy man, a native of the United States, had 
married a Mexican woman, from whom he had separated, 
not without cause. She was about to commence legal 
proceedings against him, and, as he was a foreigner and she 
a Mexican, he saw the danger to which he was exposed. 
They both called upon me, and asked my interposition to 
procure an amicable arrangement between them. With 
not a little difficulty I at length brought them to terms — he 
allowed her a hundred dollars a month. A few months 
afterwards she came to see me, and complained that the 
allowance was not a sufficient one. I told her that I was 
afraid that she had been a little extravagant, and my eyes, 
at the same time, rested on four new diamond rings which 
she had on her fingers. She became very angry, and, 
amongst other things, said : " You are unjust, sir, to say so ; 
look here, sir," holding out her hand, "do you call a woman 
extravagant who, out of so small an allowance, has saved 
enough money in a few months to purchase four such rings 
as these ?" " Well, really, madam," said I, " it is rather an 
odd proof of your frugality, that you have purchased four 



CHAP. XIII.] FOUR DIAMOND RINGS. 131 

costly rings." " Yes, sir," said she, " you say so because 
you know nothing of the habits of our country. I have 
bought these rings that hereafter, if I should be reduced to 
want, I may sell them, or pawn them at Monte Pio." 

The old vegetable woman, I have no doubt, stated what 
was the true motive for her purchase of the pearls ; I had 
some doubt in the other case. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

(rambling Festival of St. Augustin — Cock-fighting — Anecdotes of Mexican 
Honesty — ^Visit to the city of Tezcuco — Mexican Horses — Pyramids — 
Ruins — An Indian Inn — Extraordinary Ruin. 

Shortly after my arrival in Mexico, the great gambling 
feast of St. Augustin took place. I am not sufficiently 
learned upon the subject of Catholic saints to know why 
St. Augustin is the patron of gamblers, and his anni- 
versary is celebrated by all sorts of games. The village 
of San Augustin is about tvi^elve miles from Mexico, and 
there this festival is celebrated. Every human creature 
in Mexico, high and low, old and young, who can get there, 
is certain to go. Rooms are engaged, and preparations 
made for weeks beforehand. Doubloons, which are gene- 
rally worth only fifteen dollars and a quarter, as the festival 
approaches rise in value to sixteen and seventeen dollars. 
It is not genteel to bet anything but gold. The scene opens 
with cock-fighting, about twelve o'clock. It is attended by 
everybody. When I entered the cock-pit, Santa Anna and 
General Bravo, with a large number of the most distin- 
guished men in Mexico, and quite a large number of ladies 
of the highest circles, were already there. The master of 
ceremonies on the occasion walked into the pit, and ex- 
claimed two or three times, " Ave Maria purissima los 
gallos vienen" — " Hail, most pure Mary, the chicken-cocks 
are coming." Whereupon a cock is brought in covered, 
and a challenge is proclaimed, a Voutrance, to all comers, 
which is very soon accepted. The fowls are then unco- 



CHAP. XIV.] COCK-FIGHTING. 133 

vered, and allowed to walk about the pit, that the specta- 
tors may see them, and select the one on which they choose 
to risk their money. Those in the seats call some of the 
numerous brokers who are always in attendance, and give 
them whatever sum of money they desire to bet, and desig- 
nate their favorite cock. Before the fight commences, the 
broker returns and informs the person whose money he has 
received whether his bet has been taken. If he loses, he 
sees no more of the broker ; but if he wins, he is perfectly 
sure to get his money. A small gratification is expected 
by the broker, but never asked for, if it is not voluntarily 
given. I have been surprised to see these fellows, who 
are often entrusted with the money of a dozen different 
persons, never make a mistake as to the person for whom 
the bet was made, nor the amount of it. And it is another 
evidence of what I have before remarked as to the honesty 
of that class of Mexicans, that they never attempt to go off 
with the money, which they could so easily do, for it would 
be as impossible for a stranger to identify one of these 
Indians, as it would be to select a particular crow out of a 
flock of a hundred. 

I saw, on these occasions, a sign which I thought omi- 
nous — there was always the most vociferous shouting when- 
ever Santa Anna's fowl lost his fight. 

As soon as the cock-fighting is over, the gambling at 
monte commences. There are a great many public tables, 
and some private ones. It is at the latter only that Santa 
Anna plays. There are many tables where nothing but 
gold is bet, others where nothing but silver, and other 
tables again for copper. The game is a perfectly fair one, 
and one at which cheating is, I should think, impossible. 

There is some very small advantage in thegame in favor 
of the bank. I think it is only this ; if the bet is decided in 



134 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIV. 

favor of the better on the first turn, there is a very small 
deduction from the amount paid, an eighth, or perhaps a 
fourth. But there is another, and a much more important 
advantage to the bank, in this, as in all of these public 
games ; men always double and bet high when they have 
won, and, generally speaking, if the bank wins one bet in 
three, the better has lost in the end. I had not seen one of 
these public games played for very many years until I went 
to Mexico, and only saw it twice there ; but my own obser- 
vation has fully satisfied me of the truth of what I have 
said, and I should be rejoiced to know that this suggestion 
had prevented any one person from indulging in those most 
pernicious of games, pernicious as all games of chance are. 
I was very much struck with one thing which I noticed. 
I have seen, I am sure, fifty thousand dollars on the tables 
at once, probably in fifty different piles, and belonging to as 
many different betters, and yet I never witnessed a dispute 
of any sort as to the ownership of any one of these piles. 
I have seen a sum which the person who bet had omitted 
to take up when he had won ; no one claimed it until it had 
increased to quite a large sum by winning double every 
time ; and when, even, it would be asked whose bet it was, 
and thus announced that it was forgotten, no one would 
claim it. 

The gravity and propriety of Spanish manners are never 
wanting, even at the gaming-table. I have seen men in 
the humbler walks of life lose several thousand dollars, and 
perhaps the last which they possessed, without a frown, or 
the slightest sign of emotion of any sort. Greatly per- 
nicious as is the practice of gaming everywhere, and in all 
its forms, I do not think that it is anywhere so much so as 
in Mexico. The people of all mining countries are charac- 
teristically thriftless and improvident, but, I believe, nowhere 



CHAP. XIV.] COCK-FIGHTING. 135 

more than in Mexico. There are very few instances in 
Mexico of men who have any idea of that certain compe- 
tency which is the reward of industry in any employment, 
and the savings of even small earnings, whereby the 
small gains of one year swell those of the next, which is 
so well expressed in the maxim of Dr. Franklin, " that the 
second hundred dollars is much easier made than the first, 
the first assisting to make the second." Whilst they habi- 
tually postpone everything, hasta manana, until to-morrow, 
they never think of making any provision for that to-mor- 
row. If they ever do lay up money, it is for the purpose 
of attending the feast of San Augustin, and with the hope 
of winning a fortune with it. They hear of some one, per- 
haps, who has done so, but they do not think of the thou- 
sands who have lost. 

There is a dance on the green in the evening, and an- 
other ball in the cock-pit at night, to which every one is 
admitted who is decently dressed and can pay for a ticket. 
The first people in the city, of both sexes, are seen dancing 
with the most dissolute and depraved, not only in the same 
dance, but as partners. This feast lasts three or four days, 
and, from all that I saw, I should say that it is almost the 
only occasion when persons of respectability in the city of 
Mexico gamble at all. Sometimes an evening is passed in 
playing at monte for fourpences, when not more than three 
or four dollars are lost by any one. I can only say that, 
with the exception of the annual feast of San Augustin, I 
never saw a pack of cards during my residence in Mexico, 
except on two occasions, when a game of whist was played 
at the houses of private gentlemen. I am quite sure that it 
is only on such occasions that General Santa Anna plays at 
all. I have heard much said of the gambling of priests and 
ladies in Mexico — I never saw nor heard there of either 
doing it ; nor do I believe that there is any foundation for 



136 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIV. 

the charge, — for I should regard it as a charge, and a very 
discreditable one. 

I have already expressed the opinion that the calls upon 
the Minister from the United States in Mexico, for his offi- 
cial interposition, and cases involving an infinite variety of 
questions of international law, are more numerous than in 
any other of our foreign missions. They make the office 
of such minister by no means a sinecure — I certainly did 
not find it one. This reason alone would have prevented 
me from making frequent excursions into the country ; I 
had on several occasions made all my arrangements for 
such an excursion, when some difficulty arose with the 
government which prevented my leaving the city. In addi- 
tion to this, there is not a road in Mexico two miles from 
the city which is not infested with robbers, and the precau- 
tions which are necessary on this account are not a little 
inconvenient. I was anxious, however, to visit the ancient 
city of Tezcuco, which at the period of the conquest was 
second only to the city of Mexico ; it is also a place famous 
in history as the spot where Cortes launched his thirteen 
brigantines, which were used with so much effect in his 
second and successful attack upon the city of Mexico. 
They were built in Tlascala, sixty miles distant, and were 
carried to Tezcuco by the Tlascalans, and put together and 
launched there. The city of Tezcuco was at that time on 
the eastern shore of the lake, but the waters have receded 
and left it three miles distant ; the site of Mexico is the 
same now as then, but it was then surrounded by water 
and connected with the mainland by three causeways — the 
same receding of the waters of the lake at Tezcuco leaves 
the city of Mexico the same distance from the western 
shore. The lake is daily crossed by Indians from the neigh- 
borhood of Tezcuco, carrying vegetables, coal and other 



CHAP. XIV.] THE CITY OF TEZCUCO. 137 

articles to Mexico for sale. I was anxious to have crossed 
the lake in one of their boats, but could not procure one at 
the only time when it was convenient for me to leave 
Mexico. I therefore hired a hackney coach drawn by four 
spirited little white horses and driven by an American, and 
took the land route, which doubled the distance. For some 
twelve or fifteen miles our journey was by the road to Vera 
Cruz, through the valley — and thence leaving one of those 
small mountains of which I have spoken on our left, in a 
north-eastern direction, I arrived in Tezcuco with a very 
agreeable party of gentlemen, most of them American, 
about sundown. We were told in I'eply to our inquiries as 
to the best inn, that the only one in the place was a small 
hovel, which was pointed out. When we applied there, 
however, we found to our astonishment that beds and lodg- 
ing were not at all understood in the city of Tezcuco (as 
it is still called, and it has a population of seven or eight 
thousand souls) as constituting any part of the accommoda- 
tion of an inn. All that our utmost endeavors could 
accomplish for the accommodation of a party of ten or 
twelve was to obtain one room in a dilapidated old house 
of one story, the only door of which opened into the stable 
yard, through which we had to pass to get into the apart- 
ment ; there was not an article of furniture in the room of 
any sort, chair, table, or even a bench. Our next difficulty 
was to obtain straw to sleep on ; a very insufficient supply 
of this article was at last with great difficulty procured. 
Some of the young gentlemen of the party very kindly 
went into the city to ascertain if either for love or money 
they could procure a bed of any sort for me ; they returned 
with a cot with a mattrass attached to it. I was really 
grateful, but I very soon found that my gratitude was due 
only to the kind feelings which had induced them to take 



138 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIV. 

SO much trouble on my account and not for any comfort 
which the cot would afford me, for it was swarming with 
bugs. I made as comfortable a bed as I could of some of 
the straw and covered myself with my cloak ; following the 
example of the soldiers of the conquest who always slept 
with their armor on, I did not pull off my clothes, but 
passed the night in them as a protection. We arose very 
early the next morning and, mounted on very indifferent 
looking little Mexican horses, took the road for St. Juan 
de Teatihuacan, in the neighborhood of which stand the two 
remarkable pyramids of the Sun and Moon, as they are 
called, upon no sufficient authority. I said that our horses 
were indifferent looking ; I am quite sure that in no part of 
the United States would any one of them have sold for 
thirty-five dollars, yet more active, durable and fine going 
animals I have nowhere seen. The distance from Tezcuco 
to the pyramids was more than eighteen miles, nearly every 
foot of which was passed in a rapid gallop ; we returned to 
Tezcuco the same evening, after having examined every- 
thing in the neighborhood. 

The Mexican horses are not handsome (I never saw a 
handsome one) ; they are generally about fourteen hands 
and from that to fifteen hands high, but they have nothing 
of rile peculiar formation of ponies. They are raised on 
grass altogether : the experience in this country is that 
horses raised on grass are not generally good. It is said 
that there is no instance of a horse being distinguished on 
the turf, which even when a colt was fed chiefly on grass. 
But it is otherwise in Mexico. I have never seen any 
horses which were capable of enduring so much fatigue 
on the road, and of maintaining a rapid gait for so long a 
time. 

For several miles before we arrived at the pyramids we 



CHAP. XIV.] PYRAMIDS. 139 

had a full view of them ; and when I first saw them I sup- 
posed that they were mountains. I have not access to a 
copy of Humboldt's Researches, but I find in a very brief 
synopsis of the work, which has been published as one of 
the volumes of the Family Library, that he states the height 
of the largest of these pyramids at a hundred and fifty, 
and the smaller one at a hundred and forty-four feet. I 
am confident that they are of greater elevation, and still 
more confident that there is a much greater difference than 
six feet between them. Mr. Mayer says that the highest of 
these pyramids is 171 feet. Mr. Glennie says 221, which 
I have no doubt is nearer the true height. The base is 684 

feet. 

They are perfectly square at the base, and run up to a 
sharp point, a fact which I think furnishes a strong reason 
to believe that the pyramid of Cholula either has once had 
a much greater elevation than it now has, or that such was 
the original design. Why else the large area on the top, 
when all other similar structures in Mexico are carried up 
to a very narrow apex 1 These pyramids are built of un- 
hewn stone of all shapes and sizes. That of Cholula is 
built of unburnt bricks. They are now covered with earth, 
and overgrown with grass and small bushes. There is an 
entrance to the smaller of these pyramids, through which a 
man may pass on his hands and knees. This aperture is on 
the southern side, and about half-way up the pyramid, and 
terminates on the inside on a flight of stone steps which ex- 
tend to the bottom, in the centre of which is a well. The 
whole face of these artificial mountains is covered with 
fragments of figures and images of clay of ten thousand 
different kinds, and with broken instruments of obsidian ; in 
short, with fragments of almost all the Indian antiquities 
which one is accustomed to see in Mexican collections. I 



140 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIV. 

mean literally what I say, that the whole pyramid is thus 
covered. One may shut his eyes and drop a dollar from 
his hand, and the chances are at least equal that it will 
fall upon something of the kind. The bases of the two 
pyramids are some two or three hundred yards from each 
other. 

A few hundred yards from the pyramids, in a secluded 
spot, shut closely in by two small hillocks, is a very remark- 
able stone — no doubt a sacrificial stone. I think it is about 
ten feet long, five or six feet broad, and as many feet in 
height. It is very handsomely hewn, with a well cut cor- 
nice, but has none of the human or other figures in relief, 
which are so well cut on the sacrificial stones in Mexico. 
The whole weight of this huge mass of porphyritic stone 
cannot be less than twenty-five tons. There is no stone of 
the same kind, or any other in as large masses, within seve- 
ral miles of the spot where this now stands. How did it 
get there ? The ancient Mexicans had no beasts of burden 
of any sort, and so far as we know, no other means by 
which such large masses could have been moved. 

From the pyramid which I have been describing a broad 
street leads off in a southern direction for six or eight 
hundred yards, and terminates in the ruins of a large city. 
These ruins cover an area very nearly as large as that of 
the present city of Mexico, and the streets are as distinctly 
marked by the ruins of the houses. There is one large public 
square of twenty acres, with the ruin of a stone building in 
the centre of it ; with many more smaller squares in different 
places, and each of them having the same ruin in the centre, 
but about as much smaller than the ruin in the large square as 
the proportionate difference in the size of the squares them- 
selves. If it was desired to build a new city on the same spot, 
one could not be laid out in any respect better than by adopt- 



CHAP. XIV.] PYRAMIDS. 141 

ing the plan of this one which is in ruins. The streets and pub- 
lic squares are designated by the large piles of rock in close 
juxtaposition on the sides of each, but each pile separate, 
and having exactly the appearance, only larger, of a long 
row of potato hills. These stones have manifestly not been 
placed one upon another, but have exactly the appearance 
of a brick or stone house which has tumbled down. Those 
who have seen individual ruins of that sort, know that the 
bricks or stones will fall and ultimately form an almost per- 
fect cone, and would not hesitate a moment in saying that 
these cones which I have described were formed in that 
way. It has been suggested that each of these is a sepa- 
rate pyramid, and that they wei'e all places of sepulture. 
Nothing, I think, can be more absurd. It is perfectly appa- 
rent that no more art has been used in making the pile, than 
is practised by a farmer in throwing together the stones 
which he finds in his fields. And if it was a place of burial, 
why was it laid out in streets and squares ? Why have no 
human bones been found there 1 and more than all these, if 
it is indeed a vast burial plain, where did the people come 
from who are buried there ? It could only have been for a 
limited extent of the adjacent country that it was so used, 
and the whole population of Mexico, since the flood, might 
be expected to be found there, if it was in truth a place of 
sepulture. I have thought it proper to say thus much, as 
some recent American travellers in Mexico have adopted 
the very absurd idea which I have been combating. 

On the western side of this ruined city is a ravine of 
some forty feet, wide, the sides of which are for the greater 
portion of its extent of a soft rock. On each bank of this 
ravine there are niches of eighteen inches or two feet in 
diameter and of a circular form ; these are said by the natives 
of the country to have been places of sepulture, which I think 



142 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIV. 

more probable. From the earliest times of which we 
have any record or tradition this portion of the 'country 
has never been uninhabited, and as every people, savage 
or civilized, regard with peculiar sacredness the places 
where the dead are deposited, it is not probable that such a 
tradition should exist if it had not been founded in truth ; 
whilst it is altogether improbable that if these ruins are the 
tombs of generations, however long past, no tradition 
of it should exist now and did not at the period of the 
conquest. Our own Indians never lived in large cities, but 
always in small and detached villages. Not so in Mexico, 
as all know. It is a little remarkable, however, that in the 
ruins of so large a city as this must have been, that not a 
single piece of hewn stone should be found, except the 
large sacrificial stone which I have described, and 
which is as well cut as it could be done at the present day, 
which makes it still more curious, that they should have 
had the art but did not practise it. Whilst looking at these 
ruins and often on other occasions, I deeply regretted that 
Mr. Stephens, our distinguished traveller and altogether 
unequalled writer of books of travels, had not accompanied 
me to Mexico, which he at one time had an idea of doing. 
Mexico is even yet very much a terra incognita. I know 
no wider field for such researches, nor one from which 
more valuable information may be collected, and no one 
more capable of making those researches and reporting 
their results, than that distinguished gentleman. We 
returned the same evening to our lodgings in Tezcuco, 
which I really did not find uncomfortable after the fatigues 
of such a day. I must by no means omit to notice the inn 
of Tezcuco, as it is there called, and which was meant by 
the person of whom we made inquiries on our arrival in 
the city ; although it was, strictly speaking, only an eating- 



CHAP. XIV.] AN INDIAN INN. 143 

house or restaurant. The inn consisted of one low dirty- 
room, about fifteen feet square, which served for parlor, 
dining-room and kitchen. The only furniture was some 
wooden forks stuck in the ground, upon which two or three 
undressed planks were placed for a table — a rough bench 
on each side, and some earthen pans in which our meal 
was cooked, and others of the same kind out of which we 
ate it. As to knives and forks, they were a modern luxury 
of which I do not suppose that our old Indian hostess had 
ever even heard. The supper consisted of a single dish, 
which would be strictly true, if the term dish is applied to 
the rude article in which the multifarious hotchpotch was 
served up, for it consisted of about as many different things 
as were contained in the sheet which St. Peter, with less 
reason than we had, thought unclean. Pork, beef, mutton, 
turkey, fowl, cabbage, Irish potatoes, carrots, squashes, 
beans, onions, tomatoes, and red peppers were all boiled to- 
gether. So that the beef tasted like mutton and the mut- 
ton like beef — the cabbages were carrots and the carrots 
cabbages — and it therefore made very Uttle difference 
which was selected, for they all tasted alike. This mode 
of cooking was by no means peculiar to " mine hostess" of 
Tezcuco ; so far as I know it is universal in all Mexican 
houses. The next morning I visited a much more remark- 
able ruin, and one which I regarded as in all respects one 
of the most extraordinary which has yet been discovered 
in this continent. Extraordinary in itself from the im- 
mense labor which its construction must have cost, and its 
Cyclopean character, but still more so from the difficulty of 
saying with any reasonable certainty what was the object 
in constructing it. 

There is a small mountain about three miles east of Tez- 
cuco. On the almost perfectly precipitous side of this 



144 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIV. 

mountain, at an elevation of eighty to a hundred feet, 
there is a circular basin of five or six feet in diameter, cut 
in a solid rock. There is another mountain very near this ; 
the summits of these by an air line are not more than 
three quarters of a mile apart ; this last mountain is some 
twelve or fifteen miles distant from the main ledge of moun- 
tains M^hich bound the eastern portion of the valley of Mex- 
ico. From this circular basin in the rock, the side of the 
mountain is cut down and levelled exactly as if it had been 
done in grading for a railroad for about half a mile, where 
an embankment some sixty feet high connects the two ad- 
jacent mountains. From the point where this embankment 
strikes the second mountain, the side of that is cut down 
and made perfectly level, for a distance of a mile and a 
half, and with a width of about thirty feet. The grading 
of this mountain commences at a point about north-west, 
and terminates at another point a little north of east ; thus 
extending nearly two thirds of the circumference of the 
mountain, where another embankment like the first in ele- 
vation and construction, begins and extends through the 
plain to the distant mountains, which, as I was informed, 
are some twelve or fifteen miles oflf. I walked on it for 
more than a mile, and judging as I did only from the eye, 
I thought that the distance was quite as great as my guide 
said it was. There is an aqueduct placed upon the level 
thus made by the embankments, and cutting down the 
mountains the whole distance from the basin in the rock to 
the distant mountains, whence the water was brought. 
This aqueduct is formed of a very hard plaster, made of 
lime and small portions of a soft red stone. It is about two 
feet wide, and has a trough in the centre about ten inches 
wide. This trough is covered with a convex piece of the 
same plaster, which being placed upon it when the plaster 



CHAP. XIV,] EXTRAORDINARY RUIN. 145'> 

was soft, seems to be all one piece, making together a tube 
of ten inches in diameter, through which the water flowed 
from the distant mountains to the basin which it enters 
through a round hole about the size of one made with a 
two-inch auger. No plasterer of the present day can con- 
struct a more beautiful piece of work ; it is in its whole 
extent as smooth as the plastering on a well-finished wall, 
and is as hard as stone. I have a piece of it now in my 
house which I took from the aqueduct. Very often for the 
distance of many yards these pipes are perfect, and would 
hold water as well as they did the day that they were con- 
structed. No one can say for how many hundreds of 
years they have been exposed to the weather ; from all 
appearances, these pipes made of lime will endure as long, 
as the native rocks of the mountains upon which they are 
placed. Near the basin are the walls of a small house,, 
rudely constructed of unhewn stone, and steps to ascend: 
the mountain. With that exception, there is no vestige of 
human habitation or workmanship near it. For what use- 
was this Cyclopean work intended ? It could not have been; 
to water the city of Tezcuco, for that stands in the plain 
below ; and its site is not so elevated as the base of the 
mountain, and all the labor of cutting down the two moun- 
tains, and throwing up the embankments for so many miles, 
was wholly useless. But what is still more conclusive, the 
work terminates at the basin ; it is not continued a foot 
farther. It is called Montezuma's bath, as nine-tenths of 
the antiquities of the country bear his name — but Monte- 
zuma had about as much to do with it as I had ; it would 
be a gigantic work if designed to water any city in the 
United States or in Europe. It is a work very nearly or 
quite equal in the labor required for its construction to the 
8 



146 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIV. 

Croton Aqueduct. Could it have been a bath, and for the 
use of an individual ? Hardly, I think. The only conjec- 
ture left us is, that it was in some way connected with the 
religious rites of those who constructed it, as I have little 
doubt the pyramids were also. 

Extraordinary as this work certainly is in itself, and the 
reflections to which it gives rise, it is unaccountable that 
it should have escaped the notice of all who have given us 
accounts of the other antiquities of Mexico. I find not a 
word about it in Humboldt, and what is still more remark- 
able, Clavigero, himself a Mexican, and a man of learning 
and great research, has not noticed in, neither Cortes, nor 
Bernal Diaz, nor any other of the conquerors ; and there it 
is, not in a remote department, but within twenty miles of 
sthe city of Mexico. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Scientific Institutions — ^Mineria— Academy of Fine Arts— Absence of Be- 
nevolent Institutions — Health of the Climate — Freedom from Intempe- 
rance—Fruits—Education of the Common People. 

Humboldt, who visited Mexico in 1804, says that the 
scientific institutions of the city of Mexico were at that time 
equal if not superior to those of the United States. I 
am disposed to think that La Guera Rodriguez, the beauti- 
ful lady who enchanted him so much, was not the only 
thing in Mexico which he saw couleur du rose. The only 
institution of any character in the city is the Mineria — the 
College of Mines, as its name implies. The building itself 
is altogether magnificent. It is very spacious, and built of 
hewn stone in the most perfect architecture. When that is 
said nearly all is said which can be said with truth. The 
professorships are very few, chiefly those connected with 
physical science, and the chairs filled by persons of ex- 
tremely moderate attainments. The philosophical appara- 
tus is altogether contemptible ; and what is still more 
remarkable, the mineralogical collection is very small, and 
contains nothing at all remarkable. General Tornel, the Pre- 
sident, is, as I have always said, an accomplished man and an 
elegant writer. But his whole life has been spent in the 
excitement and bustle of politics, and of Mexican politics, 
and it is altogether impossible that his scientific attainments 
can be even respectable with reference to the position which 
he occupies. 



% 

148 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XV. 

The University, vv^hich was founded in 1531, is in a de- 
clining condition, if indeed it is not already extinct. There 
are some other colleges as they are called, but they are 
scarcely respectable primary schools. 

The Academy of Fine Arts is, I think, very much below 
the college of the Mineria. There are some very good 
casts in plaster of the most celebrated works in statuary, 
and a great many very inferior paintings. There is not in 
all Mexico even a tolerable portrait painter. 

One would suppose that in the dogged resolution which 
they seem to have formed, not to advance in anything with 
the age in which they live, that an exception would have 
been found in the matter of coinage of the precious metals 
in which their country abounds, and with which they con- 
tribute so much to the currency of the world — but it is not 
so. The process is, in almost every particular, the same 
that it was at the period of the conquest. They have not 
even a steam-engine in the mint in the city of Mexico, 
which has doubtless coined far more of the precious metals 
than any other in the world. 

There are scarcely any of those charitable institutions to 
which we are accustomed in all our principal cities. There 
are more of these, I have no doubt, in either of the cities of 
Boston or Philadelphia than in Mexico. 

There was something like an asylum for the insane — but 
during my residence in Mexico, General Valencia, under 
some claim which he set up to the ground and building, 
turned all the lunatics into the streets, as I was informed. 

There is a very large and well-arranged Hospital, which 
was founded by Cortes out of his own private funds — the 
Hospital of Jesus. Until a very few years past his bones 
were deposited there, as he directed in his will ; but they 
have been carried to Naples by the Duke of Monteleone, 



CHAP. XV.] HEALTH OF THE CLIMATE. 149 

the only branch of the family of the Conqueror of Mexico 
which is not now extinct. I was told in Mexico that he 
purchased these remains for twenty-five thousand dollars 
— if as an act of filial piety, it was a most mistaken 
one. I have also heard that m the frequent emeutes of the 
Mexican populace, and their rage against the gachupines 
(European Spaniards), that the tomb of Cortes was in dan- 
ger of being desecrated, and that it was on that account 
that his bones have been removed. 

There is, however, scarcely any other city where 
charitable institutions are so little needed. I have never 
seen a population where congenital deformities are so rare 
as in Mexico, and I am sure I saw nearly all which existed. 
Mendicity is not forbidden, and any serious deformity is, as 
far as a security for subsistence is concerned, a rare good 
fortune, and they are sure to make the most of it. 

Blindness is not uncommon, resulting, I suppose, from 
the extreme rarity of the air in that elevated region. I was 
surprised to hear, mild and equable as the climate is, that 
from the same reason which I have just mentioned, it is 
fatal in all pulmonary aflfections. Although there is not 
perhaps in the world a healthier region than the table-lands 
of Mexico, their bills of mortality (if they had any such 
thing, which they have not, or statistics of any kind) would 
exhibit very few cases of remarkable longevity. On the 
contrary, I think that the Mexicans are a remarkably short- 
lived race. This must result from climate alone. They 
indulge less in excesses of any kind than almost any other 
people. If I may judge from what I myself saw I should 
say that in the use of spirits no people are more temperate. 
The Spaniards are charsicteristically so everywhere, and 
they constitute almost exclusively the better classes. The 
lower classes are restrained bv the laws; drunkenness 



150 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XV. 

being there, as it should be everywhere, punishable as a 
misdemeanor, I am sure that during my residence in 
Mexico I did not see a dozen men drunk, and I have seen 
assemblies of fifty and a hundred thousand people with- 
out one case of drunkenness. As to intemperance amongst 
respectable people, it is almost unknown. There is, it is 
true, a single exception, and. that of a very distinguished 
man, and that may be the reason, amongst others, that he 
has not attained the highest distinction in his country. It is 
very rarely that you will see a Mexican gentleman drink 
anything stronger than claret wine, an immense quantity of 
which is sold there. They are equally temperate in eat- 
ing ; the lower classes because they cannot get the means 
of indulgence. Although the grass is green the year round, 
and from the sparseness of the population, one would sup- 
pose every man would be able to own his small farm and 
stock of cattle — yet it is not so. The lands of the country 
belong to a few large proprietors, some of whom own tracts 
of eighty and one hundred leagues square, with herds of 
sixty and eighty thousand head of cattle grazing upon them, 
whilst the Indian laborers upon these farms rarely have 
meat enough. 

I question very much if there is any population in Europe, 
not even the Irish or the French, who eat less meat than 
the Mexicans ; but there is certainly no country where 
extreme poverty brings with it so few sufferings. The 
climate is so mild, that clothing of any sort is only required 
for decency, not for comfort. The constant succession of 
fruits of every variety is, in itself, a resource which few other 
countries offer. It is not uncommon that one of those large 
estates, of which I have spoken, furnishes a climate in 
which every vegetable production will not only grow, but 
which is perfectly congenial to its growth, the lowlands 



CHAP. XV.] FRUITS. 151 

producing all the fruits and vegetables of the tropics, and 
the elevation gradually increasing to a region of perpetual 
snow. And then there is the banana, so easily cultivated ; 
and Humboldt says, that the same spot of ground, planted 
in Mrheat, which will support one man, if planted in the 
banana, will support twenty-five. Besides the aversion of 
the Indian race to labor of any sort, may not this be the 
great reason for the universal indolence of the Mexican 
people ? It is necessity alone which, generally speaking, 
forces men to toil ; and that which is true of individuals is 
true of nations, which are but the aggregations of indivi- 
duals. The great mass of the population of Mexico have 
no inducement to labor as we do, for all they desire is a 
mere subsistence, and the bounties of Nature supply them 
with that ; and as to any of those honorable aspirations to 
better their condition and advance themselves in life, they 
are as ignorant as the cattle which graze their wide plains 
and die. 

The apples and peaches of Mexico are not good, the 
latter decidedly inferior. The pears are very fine. They 
have one species of this fruit which is decidedly the best 
that I have ever seen ; it is nearly the size of a goose-egg, 
and its flavor as delicious as that of the famous Philadelphia 
pear. All the fruits of the tropics — the orange, pine-apple, 
banana, mango, cherimoya, and last and least in size, but 
most exquisite in flavor, the tuna — are produced in Mexico 
in great perfection. I have nowhere eaten a fruit more 
refreshing and delicious than the tuna. It is the produce 
of one of the infinite varieties of the cactus, of which I have 
seen twenty different varieties growing on an acre of land. 
One of these varieties runs up to the height of thirty or forty 
feet, in the form of a beautifully-fluted column, and is used 
to enclose gardens, by planting close together. That 



152 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XV. 

which produces the tuna grows to the height of thirty feet, 
and covers an area of twenty feet in circumference, with 
the leaves (if leaves they may be called) dropping over 
each other like the shingles of a house. These leaves are 
exactly like those of the prickly pear on our mountains, 
only larger, generally of twelve or eighteen inches in 
breadth. The fruit is about the size, and very much the 
shape, of a duck's egg. The combined flavors of a water- 
melon, a cucumber, and a lump of sugar candy, will give 
some idea of this delicious and refreshing fruit, as it melts 
in the mouth. The cherimoya is a large fruit, and is alto- 
gether delicious. The idea which occurs to every one on 
eating it for the first time is, that it is a vegetable custard. 
I scarcely ever offered it to an American who did not 
make that comparison, thinking that he had said an original 
and smart thing ; but I had heard it before at least a hun- 
dred times. They have a fruit very much like what we 
call the " May-apple," which abounds, I believe, in every 
part of the United States. It is of the same size, and the 
flower has all the peculiarities of the passion-flower. The 
fruit itself is precisely the same, except that it has a yellow 
rind, not unlike that of a lemon. It does not grow on a 
vine running on the ground, like our May-apple, or May- 
cock, as it is sometimes called, but upon one more like a 
grape-vine. 

I will close this somewhat heterogeneous melange of 
Mexican scientific and literary institutions, fruits, idle and 
ignorant leperos, &c., with a notice of a thing which struck 
me very forcibly. I had not a servant during my resi- 
dence in Mexico who did not read and write — neither very 
well, it is true, but quite as well, or better, than the same 
class in this country. I often observed the most ragged 
leperos, as they walked down the streets, reading the signs 



CHAP. XV.] EDUCATION. 153 

over the store doors. How this happens, I know not, un- 
less it be the effect of Lancasterian schools, which are 
established all over the country, chiefly, I think, through 
the instrumentality and exertions of General Tornel — a no- 
ble charity, which should of itself cover a multitude of sins 
much greater than those which even his enemies impute to 
him. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Diplomatic Position upon entering Mexico — Fellow Travellers — ^Friend- 
ship with Englishmen — Aversion of Englishmen to General Jackson. 

When I first arrived in Mexico, it was very manifest that 
I was regarded with distrust and disHke. This was in 
some degree owing to the impression which existed not 
only with the government but the people generally, that my 
mission had a special reference to the American citizens 
who accompanied the Santa Fe expedition, and who were 
then confined in Mexico ; but still more to the active 
part which I had taken as a member of Congress on the 
question of the recognition by our government of the inde- 
pendence of Texas. In a speech upon that question I made 
a good many disparaging allusions to Mexico, all of which 
were known there. I had also moved the resolutions two 
or three days before the adjournment of Congress on the 
4th of March, 1837, which secured that recognition, at a 
most critical period of the affairs of Texas, as an amend- 
ment to the appropriation bill. I was of course regarded 
in Mexico as the enemy of the country, and the general 



CHAP. XVI.] DIPLOMATIC POSITION. 155 

opinion was that I had been sent there for the purpose of 
causing a rupture between the two governments, to 
give us the right to enter into and terminate the war 
between Texas and Mexico. The next day after my arri- 
val, a gentleman connected with the government inquired 
(evidently for a purpose) of an American in Mexico 
whether I had brought my family, and when told that I had 
not, he again asked when they were to come. I am satis- 
fied that if my family had accompanied me, it would have 
indicated a purpose, and a confidence of remaining there 
for some time, which would have had an injurious effect. 
My predecessor had demanded the release of Mr. Kendall 
and three other Americans, who had accompanied the 
Sante Fe expedition about the middle of February, 1842, 
and had received a peremptory refusal ; and thus matters 
stood until my arrival in Mexico. I landed at Vera Cruz 
on the 10th of April, and arrived in Mexico on the 16th. 
On the 14th of April, Mr. Ellis received a promise from the 
minister for foreign affairs, of the release of these prisoners. 
Although I had not at that time arrived in Mexico, I have 
no doubt that my arrival at Vera Cruz was known to the 
government. Couriers between the two places are con- 
stantly employed by the government, and so important an 
event as the arrival of a new minister from the United 
States, in the then existing state of our relations, would, as 
a matter of course, be reported at the earliest moment. And 
whilst I say in all candor, and it is no more than justice to 
say, that Mr. Ellis had done everything which in his situa- 
tion I could have done ; yet I have no doubt that Mr. Ken- 
dall and his companions owed their release neither to the 
efforts of Mr. Ellis nor myself, but to a certain prestige 
which I carried with me from the circumstances to which 
I have adverted. Indeed I was informed by a distinguished 



¥ 



156 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XVI. 

member of the diplomatic, corps that he knew that the 
Mexican cabinet were very apprehensive about the matter, 
and anxious for some honorable escape from the false posi- 
tion in which they had placed themselves. Mr. Kendall 
and three others were released to Mr. Ellis upon his appli- 
cation on his audience of leave. There were three others 
whose cases I thought were in all material respects the 
same, but Mr. Ellis thought differently — and could not con- 
scientiously, and therefore did not, demand their release. 
Immediately, however, after my presentation, I brought the 
matter to the notice of the minister of foreign affairs, 
and he sent me an order for their release, without any dis- 
cussion whatever of the merits of their cases. I have rarely 
seen three so happy men. The release of their com- 
panions and refusal to discharge them had, as may be sup- 
posed, deprived them of all hope, and their delight on being 
so unexpectedly relieved from such a state of despair can- 
not well be imagined. 

I would mention here a circumstance which annoyed me 
not a little. A few days before my arrival at Puebla, two 
of the Texians who had been confined there made their 
escape. Major Howard and another whose name I have for- 
gotten. They were secreted by an Englishwoman at 
great peril to herself; when one of her friends asked her 
why she had done so imprudent a thing, and added, they 
are not Englishmen, she replied, that she knew they were 
not, but that they had white skins and spoke the English 
language. The Mexican officers of all grades were every- 
where on the lookout for the refugees. They very wisely 
determined not to take the route to Vera Cruz where they 
would be expected, but to go to Mexico, for nowhere is 
concealment so easy as in a large city. I had heard of 
the escape of two of the prisoners, and as soon as it was 



CHAP. XVI.] FRIENDSHIP WITH ENGLISHMEN. 157 

daylight I at once recognized them as my fellow-passengers 
in the stage, and a Mexican captain was another. One of 
the Texians, a fine looking and striking young man, whose 
person and bearing at once bespoke his race and country, 
was less cautious than Major Howard, an old Indian war- 
rior. He talked a great deal, and all about Texas. I found 
myself in the same stage with these Texians, in the worst 
possible odor with the Mexicans on account of my well- 
known feelings towards Mexico, and about to make my 
entry into Mexico under such circumstances. If they had 
been discovered, it would have been in vain to have denied 
my knowledge of them or participation in their plan of 
escape. They were not, however, suspected, and got out 
of the stage before it arrived in Mexico, and never, I am 
sure, was I so much rejoiced to be rid of two as agreeable 
companions. 

The generous and honorable sentiment so well expressed 
by the Englishwoman of Puebla leads me to remark that 
my residence in Mexico furnished me more evidences than 
one, of the powerful sympathy of race. Even the re- 
vengeful character of the Spaniard yields to it. Notwith- 
standing the recent termination of the fierce and sanguinary 
civil war which has raged between Mexico and the mother 
country, no other people are so favorably regarded by the 
Mexicans as the Spaniards. And I can say with truth, 
that I never met an Englishman there that I did not feel the 
full force of " the white skin and the English language" — and 
I had no cause to believe that the same feeling was not 
entertained towards me by the English gentlemen in Mexi- 
co ; and why, in God's name, should it be otherwise ? I 
would not sell " for the seas' worth," my share of the glory 
of my English ancestry, Milton, Shakspeare and John 
Hampden, and those noble old barons who met King John 



158 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XVI. 

at Runnymede ; and on the other hand, Englishmen should 
have a just pride in the prosperity and greatness of our 
country. In the beautiful language of a highly gifted and 
liberal minded Englishman, Mr. Charles Augustus Murray, 
"whether we view the commercial enterprise of America 
or her language, her love of freedom, parochial, legal or 
civil institutions, she bears indelible marks of her origin ; 
she is and must continue the mighty daughter of a mighty 
parent, and although emancipated from maternal control, 
the affinities of race remain unaltered. Her disgrace must 
dishonor their common ancestry, and her greatness and 
renown should gratify the parental pride of Britain." 
Accursed be the vile demagogue who would wantonly 
excite another and fratricidal war between the two greatest 
and only free countries of the earth ! 

I should not satisfy my own feelings if I were not to 
notice here the circle of English merchants, who reside in 
Mexico. I have nowhere met a worthier set of gentlemen 
— enlightened, hospitable and generous. I can with great 
truth say, that the most pleasant hours which I passed in 
Mexico were in their society, and I shall never cease to re- 
member them with kindness and respect. I now and then 
met with a little of the John Bull jealousy of this country, 
but I playfully told them that I could pardon that, — that it 
was altogether natural, for that the English flag had waved 
on every sea and continent on the face of the globe, and that 
for the last thousand years it had rarely, if ever, been 
lowered to an equal force, except in conflicts with us, 
where its fate had always been to come down. I believe 
that I may say that their greatest objection to me was, that 
I was rather too fond of talking of General Jackson and 
New Orleans. There is no single name which an English- 
man so little likes to hear as that of General Jackson, and 



CHAP. XVI.] AVERSION OF ENGLISHMEN. 159 

none so grateful to the ears of an American in a foreign 
land, only excepting that of Washington. I do not doubt 
that it will be known and remembered long after that of 
every other American who has gone before him, except 
Washington and Franklin, is swallowed up in the vortex of 
oblivion. I have been the political opponent of General 
Jackson, and should be so now upon the same questions. I 
believe that he committed some very great errors, but that 
he did all in honor and patriotism. I have at the same 
time always had a just admiration for his many great 
qualities and glorious achievements, and I should pity the 
American who could hear his name mentioned in a foreign 
land without feeling his pulse beat higher. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Kindness and Courtesy— Society of Dinner Parties and Entertainments — 
Mexican Ladies wanting in Beauty— Do not dance well— Charity — 
Routine of daily Life — Costliness of Dress— In the Streets — Women gene- 
rally Smoke — A day in the Country. 

Notwithstanding the general prejudice which existed in 
Mexico against me when I first went there, I was treated, 
although somewhat coldly, always and by all classes with 
the most perfect respect. In this particular the higher 
classes of all countries are very much alike, but I doubt 
whether there is any other country where the middling and 
lower classes are so generally courteous and polite. There 
is no country where kindness and courtesy are more certain 
to meet with a proper return. It may be that three hun- 
dred years of vassalage to their Spanish masters may have 
given the Indian population an habitual deference and 
respect for a race which they have always regarded as a 
superior one. No people are by nature more social, none 
less so in their habits. It is not the fashion to give entertain- 
ments of any sort. And what I regarded as a little re- 
markable, the members of the Mexican cabinet, most of 
whom were men of fortune and had ample means at hand, 
not only never gave entertainments, even dinner parties to 
the members of the diplomatic corps, but never even 
invited them to their houses, — when invited to such parties 
however by any of the foreign ministers, they never failed 
to accept the invitation. With any other people there 



CHAP. XVII.] DINNER PARTIES AND ENTERTAINMENTS. 161 

would be a seeming meanness in this. But such was not 
the case. No people are more liberal in the expenditure 
of money. General Santa Anna had two very large din- 
ner parties whilst I was in Mexico, and two or three balls ; 
but I heard of nothing else of the kind, except at the houses 
of the foreign ministers. Santa Anna's dinners were 
altogether elegant, and he presided at them with great 
dignity and propriety. On such occasions he was joyous 
and hilarious. The company, without an exception, had 
the appearance and manners of gentlemen ; I sat next to 
him on these occasions, and his aides-de-camp, who were 
not seated at the table, would occasionally come to his seat 
and say some playful thing to him. I was much struck 
with the style of the intercourse between them ; marked by 
an affectionate kindness on his part, and the utmost respect, 
but at the same time freedom from restraint, upon theirs. 

His balls were very numerously attended. The compa- 
ny was by no means select. In fact I saw there very few 
of the ladies belonging to the aristocracy ; but very many 
others who had no business there. This, however, is una- 
voidable in a revolutionary country like Mexico. Every 
President holds his power by no other tenure than the caprice 
of the army, and he is forced, therefore, to conciliate it. 
If a corporal, who has married the daughter of the washer- 
woman of the regiment, has risen to the highest station in 
the army, his wife cannot be slighted with safety — and such 
cases have occurred. 

I wish that I could in sincerity say that the ladies of 
Mexico are handsome. They are not, nor yet are they 
ugly. Their manners, however, are perfect ; and in the 
great attributes of the heart, affection, kindness, and benevo- 
lence in all their forms, they have no superiors. They are 
eminently graceful in everything but dancing. That does- 



162 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XVII. 

not " come by nature," as we have the authority of Dog- 
berry that reading and wanting do ; and they are rarely 
taught to dance, and still more rarely practise it. 

I think that in another, and the most important point in 
the character of woman, they are very much slandered. I 
am quite sure that there is no city in Europe of the same 
size where there is less immorality. Indeed, I cannot see 
how such a thing is possible. Every house in Mexico has 
but one outside door, and a porter always at that. The old 
system of the duenna, and a constant espionage, are observed 
by every one, and to an extent that would scarcely be be- 
lieved. I have no doubt, however, that whatever other 
effects these restraints may have, their moral influence is 
not a good one. The virtue which they secure is of the 
sickly nature of hot-house plants, which wither and perish 
when exposed to the weather. Women, instead of being 
taught to regard certain acts as impossible to be committed, 
and therefore not apprehended or guarded against, are 
brought up with an idea that the temptation of opportunity 
is one which is never resisted. 

I do not think that the ladies of Mexico are generally 
very well educated. There are, however, some shining 
exceptions. Mrs. Almonte, the wife of General Almonte, 
would be regarded as an accomplished lady in any country. 
The Mexicans, of either sex, are not a reading people. The 
ladies read very little. 

The general routine of female life is to rise late, and spend 
the larger portion of the day standing in their open win- 
dows, which extend to the floor. It would be a safe bet at 
any hour of the day between ten and five o'clock, that you 
would in walking the streets see one or more females stand- 
ing thus at the windows of more than half the houses. At 
five they ride on the Paseo, and then go to the theatre, 



CHAP. XVII.] COSTLINESS OF DRESS. 163 

where they remain until twelve o'clock, and the next day, 
and every day in the year, repeat the same routine. In 
this dolce far niente their whole Hves pass away. But I re- 
peat that in many of the qualities of the heart which make 
women lovely and loved, they have no superiors. 

The war of independence was illustrated with many in- 
stances of female virtue of a romantic character, one of 
which I will mention. And I again regret that I have for- 
gotten the name of the noble woman whose virtue and love 
of country were so severely tested. The lady to whom I 
refer had two sons, each of whom was in command of a 
detachment of the patriot army. One of them was made 
prisoner, and the Spanish General into whose hands he had 
fallen, sent for his mother and said to her, " If you will in- 
duce your other son to surrender his army to me, I will 
spare the life of the one who is my prisoner." Her instant 
reply was, " No ! I will not purchase the life of one son with 
the dishonor of another and the ruin of my country." This 
fact is historic, and is more true than history generally is. 

The ladies of Mexico dress with great extravagance, 
and I suppose a greater profusion of " pearl and gold" — I 
will not say more barbaric — than in any other country. I 
remember that at a ball at the President's, Mr. Bocanegra 
asked me what I thought of the Mexican ladies ; were they 
as handsome as my own countrywomen? I of course 
avoided answering the question ; I told him, however, that 
they were very graceful, and dressed much finer than our 
ladies. He said he supposed so, and then asked me what I 
thought the material of the dresses of two ladies which he 
pointed out had cost ; and then told me that he had hap- 
pened to hear his wife and daughters speaking of them, and 
that the material of the dresses, blonde, I think, had cost 
one thousand dollars each. I asked on the same occasion, 



164 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XVII. 

a friend of mine who was a merchant, what he sup- 
posed was the cost of an ornament for the head thickly set 
with diamonds of the Senora A. G. He told me that he 
knew very well for he had imported it for her, and that the 
price was twenty-five thousand dollars ; she wore other 
diamonds and pearls no doubt of equal value. 

I have said that there are very rarely if ever anything 
like evening parties, or tertullias ; social meetings, or calls 
to spend an evening are quite as unusual, except among 
very near relations, and even then the restraint and espio- 
nage are not at all relaxed. Persons who have seen each 
other, and been attached for years, often meet at the altar 
without ever having spent half an hour in each other's 
company. Ladies of the better classes never walk the 
streets except on one day in the year, the day before Good 
Friday, I believe it is. But they make the most of this 
their saturnalia ; on that day all the fashionable streets are 
crowded with them, in their best " bibs and tuckers," and 
glittering in diamonds. 

The streets are always, however, swarming with women 
of the middling and lower classes. The only articles of 
dress worn by these are a chemise and petticoat, satin slip- 
pers, but no stockings, and a rebozo, a long shawl impro- 
perly called by our ladies, a mantilla. This they wear over 
the head and wrapped close around the chin, and thrown 
over the left shoulder. Whatever they may be in private, 
no people can be more observant of propriety in public ; 
one may walk the streets of Mexico for a year, and he will 
not see a wanton gesture or look on the part of a female 
of any description, with the single exception, that if you 
meet a woman with a tine bust, which they are very apt 
to have, she finds some occasion to adjust her rebozo, and 



CHAP. XVIT.] A DAY IN THE COUNTRY. 165 

throws it open for a second. This reboza answers all the 
purposes of shawl, bonnet, and frock-body. 

The women of Mexico, I think, generally smoke ; it is 
getting to be regarded as not exactly comme il faut, and 
therefore they do it privately. As the men generally 
smoke, they have the advantage which Dean Swift recom- 
mends to all who eat onions, to make their sweethearts do 
so too. 

One of the favorite and most pleasant recreations of the 
Mexicans is what they call un dia de campo, a day in the 
country. A party is made up to spend the day at Tacu- 
baya, or some other of the neighboring villages, or at 
some house in the suburbs of the city, where a dinner is 
prepared, and a band of music sent out ; and the day and 
a large portion of the night spent in dancing. Never have 
I seen a more joyous and hilarious people than they are on 
these occasions. 

I shall never forget one of these parties which was given 
to General Almonte, just before he left Mexico on his mis- 
sion to this country. It was a genuine, roistering, country 
frolic. We got mto boats, and with the music playing, 
were rowed for some distance by moonlight, in the canal 
which terminates in the Lake of Chalco, and then amongst 
the Chinampas or floating gardens, which are now nothing 
more than shaking bogs. The very thin stratum of soil 
which had formed on the water of the Lake is made more 
unsteady, when a small space of an acre or two is sur- 
rounded by a canal. There are now none of the floating 
gardens described by the conquerors, which were formed 
by artificial means, and moved about from one part of the 
lake to another. 

The men who are met in the street, are almost 
exclusively oflicers and soldiers of the army, priests 



166 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XVII. 

and leperos, the latter quite as useful, and much the least 
burdensome and pernicious of the three classes. The 
Mexicans of the better classes generally wear cloth cloaks 
at all seasons of the year, and the Indians blankets ; for 
ornament, I suppose, for the weather is never cold enough 
to make either necessary. One thing, however, I could 
never account for, I did not feel uncomfortably cold in a 
linen coat, nor uncomfortably warm with my cloak on. 
All the physical peculiarities of the Indians of Mexico are 
precisely the same as those of our own Indians ; they are, 
however, much smaller. Their appearance is very much 
the same in all respects as those of the straggling Indians 
who are seen about our cities ; nothing of the elastic step 
and proud bearing of our natives of the forest. Such a 
noble looking fellow as the Seminole Chief, Wild Cat, 
would create a sensation there ; he might possibly get up 
a pronunciamento — I have no doubt he would attempt it. 
In a word, I am by no means sure that in exchanging the 
pecuUar civilisation which existed in the time of Monte- 
zuma for that which the Spaniards gave them, that they 
have improved the condition of the masses ; they have lost 
little of the former but its virtues, and acquired little of the 
latter but its vices. I have already remarked that, although 
there are no political distinctions amongst the various 
castes of the population of Mexico, that the social distinc- 
tions are very marked. At one of those large assemblies 
at the President's palace, it is very rare to see a lady whose 
color indicates any impurity of blood. The same remark 
is, to a great extent, true of the gentlemen, but there are a 
good many exceptions. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Congress of Deputies — Patriotism — The Army — Undisciplined Troops — 
The Lasso, an Instrument of Warfare — Mexican and American Cavalry 
— ^Mode of Recruiting the Army — Texian conflicts with the Mexicans. 

The Congress of Deputies is a highly respectable looking 
body. I have seen no similar body anywhere superior in 
this respect, or which is more dignified and orderly. Span- 
ish decorum and gravity, which 1 have before remarked 
are never forgotten, even in the excitement of the gaming- 
table, are proof against what our own experience would 
lead us to believe is a much severer trial, the excitement 
and irritation of political strife. Two members of the 
Mexican Congress who would fight on the floor of Con- 
gress would be in danger of the garote. The manner of 
some of the speakers is decidedly oratorical. As to the 
matter I cannot speak, as the gallery where seats are pro- 
vided for the diplomatic corps is so high that it is impossi- 
ble to hear. Their style, however, like that of all Mexi- 
cans, is excessively grandiloquent, always in " Ercles vein." 
But what is much more to their honor is, that in the ever- 
shifting scenes in the drama of Mexican revolutions and 
civil wars, there has not been a single instance of a Mexi- 
can Congress proving false to the trust confided to it. It 
is true that there have been subservient Congresses, but 
they were not composed of the members originally elected. 
The strong measure of all usurpers, from the time of Crom- 
well, was resorted to of dissolving the original Con- 
gress, and assembling another selected by the President 



168 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XVIIL 

from his own subservient tools, and who were no more, of 
course, than the passive instruments of his will, and the 
registers of his edicts. The resistance made by the Con- 
gress of Mexico to the usurpation and arbitrary acts of 
Iturbide may be advantageously compared with that of the 
English Parliament to Cromwell, and more closely with 
the conduct of the French Chambers towards Buonaparte. 
The course of Pedraza, as a member of the Mexican Con- 
gress during the last administration of Santa Anna, when 
his power was absolute, and he seemed to be altogether 
impregnable, was worthy of all admiration. It was firm, 
cool, resolute, and patriotic. 

The better classes of the Mexicans are generally edu- 
cated to some extent, and, I think, as generally patriotic. 
They have the sentiment of liberty, but it is vague and unde- 
fined, and a devoted attachment to the word " Republic," 
but, I greatly fear, are not altogether capable of laying 
wisely the broad and deep foundations of such a govern- 
ment which would be suited to their peculiar circumstances. 
God grant that they may ! for they deserve success ; and 
I can say, in all truth, that there is no other country, 
except my own, in whose advances in the great career of 
civil liberty I feel so strong an interest. 

The first spark struck out from our own great move- 
ment was kindled in Mexico. The nation has passed 
through the severest trials, and, in many instances, developed 
characters of the most disinterested patriotism and exalted 
virtue. 

That which is in all respects the greatest nuisance, and 
the most insuperable barrier to the prosperity and progress 
of Mexico, is the army. They will tell you there that it 
amounts to forty thousand men ; but they have never had 
half that number. I have no doubt that the accounts at the 



CHAP. XVIII.] UNDISCIPLINED TROOPS. 169 

Department of War exhibit nearly the number stated, but a 
large pi'oportion of them are men of straw — fictitious names 
fraudulently inserted for the benefit of the officers who pay 
them. They are paid every day, or, rather, that is the law ; 
but the pay is just as fictitious as the muster rolls. 

They have more than two hundred generals, most of them 
without commands. Every officer who commands a regi- 
ment has the title of general, and is distinguished from ge- 
nerals who have no commands by the addition of" General 
effectivo." The rate of pay is not very different from that 
of our own army. Each officer and soldier, however, is 
his own commissary, no rations being issued ; and they are 
well satisfied if they receive enough of their pay to procure 
their scanty rations, which was very rarely the case, except 
with Santa Anna's favorite troops, whom he always kept 
about his person, and this made it their interest to sustain 
him. In one of the last conversations which I had with 
him, I told him that the army would remain faithful to him 
just so long as he could pay them, and no longer, and that 
I did not see how it was possible for him to pay them much 
longer. 

The result proved the truth of both predictions, and that, 
I have no doubt, was the cause of the revolution which 
overthrew him. It is not alone with the French sans- 
culottes that " la liberte et la peine" is a cry of fearful 
potency. Shortly before I left Mexico, an officer in the 
army came to the city and settled his accounts with the 
War Department, and received a certificate that twenty- 
five hundred dollars were due him ; after hawking it about 
amongst the brokers, he sold the claim for a hundred and 
twenty-five dollars, which was five cents on the dollar. 

They say that they are obliged to have a standing army, 
9 



170 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XVlII. 

and that they can only enforce their laws " by the grace of 
God and gunpowder." This maj^ be true, but I doubt it. 
But if it be, is there any military man who will deny that 
five thousand soldiers well-paid, fed and disciplined, 
would be more efficient than fifty thousand such troops as 
they have ? It has been the policy of all great commanders 
not to take doubtful and undisciplined troops into a great 
battle. I do not hesitate to say that if I was in command 
of an army of ten thousand disoiplined troops, and was 
going into battle, and was offered ten thousand more Mex- 
ican troops, that I would not take them. Napier, in his 
history of the Peninsular War, describing some battle uses 
this expression : " The British army was strengthened or 
rather weakened by twenty thousand undisciplined Spanish 
troops." The inequality between disciplined and undisci- 
plined troops is estimated by military men as one to five. 
This inequality is much greater with large masses, and I 
do not think that any commander could perform a tactical 
evolution with five thousand Mexican troops. I do not be- 
lieve that such an one — a manoeuvre in the face of an enemy — 
ever was attempted in any Mexican battle ; they have all 
been mere melees or mob fights, and generally terminated 
by a charge of cavalry, which is, therefore, the favorite 
corps with all Mexican officers. I should regard it, from 
the diminutive size of their horses and the equally diminu- 
tive stature and feebleness of their riders, as utterly ineffi- 
cient against any common infantry. I said so in conver- 
sation with Colonel B n, an officer who had seen some 

service, and had some reputation. I was not a little amused 
at his reply. He admitted that squares of infantry were 
generally impregnable to cavalry, but said it was not so with 
the Mexican cavalry, that they had one resource by which 
they never had any difficulty in breaking the square. I 



CHAP. XVm.] UNDISCIPLINED TROOPS. 171 

was curious to know what this new and important discovery 
in the art of war was, and waited impatiently the " push 
of his one thing," when to my infinite amusement he rephed 
— the Lasso ; that the cavalry armed with lassos rode up 
and threw them over the men forming the squares, and 
pulled them out, and thus made the breach. I remembered 
that my old nurse had often got me to sleep when a child, 
by promising to catch me some birds the next day, by put- 
ting salt on their tails, which I thought was about as easy 
an operation as this new discovery of the Mexican colonel. 
I had read of " kneeling ranks and charging squadrons," but 
this idea of lassoing squadrons was altogether new to me. 
Buonaparte fought and gained the battle of the Pyramids 
against the best cavalry in the world, the Mamelukes, en- 
tirely in squares. He lost the battle of Waterloo because 
the British squares were impenetrable to the next best — the 
French cavalry — during all of that long and awful conflict. 
The idea, however, of the lasso did not occur to the Mame- 
lukes in Egypt, nor to Buonaparte at Waterloo. I was re- 
minded of the equally novel attack of the Chinese upon the 
English, when they were all formed in battle array and 
the Chinese threw somersets at them instead of cannon 
balls and shells. 

The Mexican army, and more particularly their cavalry, 
may do very well to fight each other, but in any conflict 
with our own or European troops, it would not be a battle 
but a massacre. Frederick the Great, who was the author, 
in a great degree, of the modern system of tactics, had 
three maxims as to cavalry. First, that a cavalry corps 
should never be charged but should always make the 
charge. Second, that, in a charge of cavalry, they were 
not going fast enough unless when halted the froth from 
the mouth of the horse struck the rider in the face ; and 



172 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XVIII. 

third, which was rather the summing up of the first two, 
that the spur was more important than the sword. In other 
words, that the impulse and momentum of the horse was 
of more consequence than the arms and blows of the rider. 
What then must be the murderous inequality between a 
corps of American cavalry and an equal number of Mexi- 
cans 1 The American corps, from the superior size of their 
horses, would cover twice as much ground, and the ob- 
struction offered by the Mexicans on their small and 
scrawny ponies would scarcely cause their horses to stum- 
ble in riding over them ; to say nothing of the greater in- 
equality of the men themselves, five to one at least in 
individual combats, and more than twice that in a battle. 
The infantry would be found even more impotent. 

I do not think that the Mexican men have much more 
physical strength than our women. They are generally of 
diminutive stature, wholly unaccustomed to labor or exer- 
cise of any sort, and as a conclusive proof of their inferior- 
ity to our own Indians, I will mention the fact that frequent 
incursions are made far into the interior of Mexico by ma- 
rauding bands of Comanches, who levy black mail to an 
enormous extent upon the northern provinces of Mexico. 
It is not unusual for bands of a hundred Comanches thus 
to penetrate several hundred miles into Mexico and carry 
off" as many horses, cattle and captives as they choose ; 
there are not less than five thousand Mexicans at this 
moment slaves of the Comanches — and of all our western 
tribes the Comanches are the most cowardly, — the Dela- 
wares frequently whip them five to one. 

The soldiers of the Mexican army are generally collected 
by sending out recruiting detachments into the mountains, 
where they hunt the Indians in their dens and caverns, and 
bring them in chains to Mexico ; there is scarcely a day 



CHAP. XVIII.J MODE OF RECRUITING. 173 

that droves of these miserable and more than half naked 
wretches are not seen thus chained together and marching 
through the streets to the barracks, where they are scoured 
and then dressed in a uniform made of linen cloth or of 
serge, and are occasionally drilled— which drilling consists 
mainly in teaching them to march in column through the 
streets. Their military bands are good, and the men learn 
to march indifferently well — but only indifferently well — 
they put their feet down as if they were feeling for the 
place, and do not step with that jaunty, erect and graceful 
air which is so beautiful in well drilled troops. As to the 
wheelings of well-trained troops, like the opening and shut- 
ting of a gate, or the prompt and exact execution of 
other evolutions, they know nothing about them. There is 
not one in ten of these soldiers who has ever seen a gun, 
nor one in a hundred who has ever fired one before he 
was brought into the barracks. It is in this way that the 
ranks of the army are generally filled up — in particular 
emergencies the prisons are thrown open, which always 
contain more prisoners than the army numbers, and these 
felons become soldiers and some of them officers. Their 
arms, too, are generally worthless English muskets which 
have been condemned and thrown aside, and are pur- 
chased for almost nothing and sold to the Mexican gov- 
ernment. Their powder, too, is equally bad ; in the last 
battle between Santa Anna and Bustamente, which lasted 
the whole day, not one cannon ball in a thousand reached 
the enemy — they generally fell about half-way between the 
opposing armies. What would they think of such fights as 
we had on the northern lines, when Miller stormed the 
English battery, or when, in the language of General 
Brown, "General Jessup showed himself to his friends in a 
sheet of fire." I do not think that the Mexicans are defi- 



174 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. XVllI. 

cient in courage ; or it might be more properly said that 
they are indifferent to danger or the preservation of a life 
which is really so worthless to the most of them. But with 
the disadvantages to which I have adverted, the reader 
will not be surprised that in all the conflicts with our 
people, in which they have been more or less engaged 
for the last thirty years, they have always been defeated. 

The following brief sketch of some of these battles I 
have taken from the report of Mr. Moffit, who was sent 
as Commissioner to Texas, in 1837, by General Jackson, 
to collect such information as would enable him to act 
understandingly upon the question of the recognition of the 
Independence of Texas : — 

",In order that you may determine whether her history thus far may 
be considered as experience that will teach successfully by example, I 
submit the following summary : 

" In the year 1827, when the Texians, near Nacogdoches, had been 
aggrieved by the military at that post, and had ineffectually endeavored to 
procure their removal, they took up arms for the purpose, and with 250 
undisciplined men defeated 375 regulars, under General Las Piedros. 

" In 1832, under the administration of Bustamente, and after the vio- 
lation of the federal constitution, a detachment of 132 Texian settlers, 
under Captain John Austin, besieged and reduced the fort at Velasco, 
garrisoned by 173 Mexicans, under Colonel Ugarticha, with great loss to 
the besieged. 

" In 1835, the Mexican garrison at Anahuoca, under Captain Tenoria, 
surrendered to Colonel Travis, commanding a smaller force. In October 
of the same year, the Mexican cavalry from the fortress at Bexar were 
completely routed at Gonzales. 

" A few weeks after, 92 Texians, under Colonels Bowie and Fanning, 
fought the battle of Conception, and defeated 450 Mexicans. In Novem- 
ber, Lepartittlan, on the Nueces, was captured by Adjutant Westover. 
The battle near Bexar was fought in the same month, and 400 Mexicans 
were obliged to retire under cover of the artillery of the town, before 
200 Texians. And in December, the city of San Antonio and the Alamo, 



CHAP. XVIII.] TEXIAN CONFLICTS. 175 

defended by 1,300 Mexicans, under General Cos, surrendered to 400 
Texians, commanded by Colonel Milam. This terminated the first cam- 
paign in the cause of civil liberty in Texas. 

" The second commenced with a small expedition against Metamoras, 
which failed, and was succeeded in March, 1836, by the assault of Santa 
Anna upon the Alamo, its surrender, and the massacre of the Texians. 

" Then followed the defeat of the Mexicans at the Mision del Refugio, 
by Captain King, and the destruction of Gonzales on the retreat of General 
Houston. 

" The second fight at Refugio terminated favorably to the Texians, 
under Colonel Ward — ^but Colonel Fanning, a few days after, submitted 
to General Urrea, and 400 men were shot. 

"On the 21st of April, 1836, the decisive battle of San Jacinto was 
fought, in which General Santa Anna, with 1,300 men, was defeated by 
General Houston, commanding 783 ; and on the 24th of the same month 
all the Mexican forces retreated beyond the frontiers of Texas. This 
concluded the second campaign, and thence, it is said, a new epoch in her 
history was dated. 

" If we recur to the military incidents of Mexico, in which persons 
from the United States took part, even while that country was under the 
dominion of Spain, it will be seen that nearly all the conflicts were dis- 
astrous to her subjects ; and there seems to be a fatality against her that 
is likely to keep pace with all her pretensions on this side of her natural 
boundary, the Rio Grande. As early as 1810, the military post at Baton 
Rouge, whose commandant had committed many wrongs against Colonel 
Kemper, was attacked by 40 Americans, under General Thomas, and the 
garrison, ' with Colonel Lassus and 120 men, subdued. The Mexicans 
about that time had commenced a revolution against Spain, and Colonel 
Ross, with 500 men, proceeded into Texas to aid the patriots : he attack- 
ed and took the strong town of Goliad without any loss, and soon after 
defeated and captured 1,500 Mexicans. This army determined upon the 
conquest of Mexico, and routed and cut to pieces 3,000 men near San 
Antonio. 

"A reinforcement of 4,000 Mexicans assaulted Bexar in the absence 
of the American generals, but the trooops resolved to act themselves, and 
defeated the assailants with the loss of only three men. ' 

"In 1812, General Toledo, who had revolted from the Spanish govern- 
ment, took command of San Antonio, and, with Ross's force of 400, and 



176 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. XVIH. 

300 Indians, routed another Mexican army of 4,000 men. These events 
led to the general revolution which separated Mexico from Spain ; and 
ever since then, whenever the Texians have been engaged, either with 
the Mexicans to establish a republic, or against them to defend it, they 
have almost invariably prevailed." 

In the account which Mr. Moffit gives of the battle at 
Bexar where General Cos surrendered to Colonel Milam, 
he has overstated the Texian force. There were only 
two hundred and nineteen Texians engaged in that battle, 
and they had no artillery but one six pounder. The Mexi- 
can force was fourteen hundred men, with twenty-two 
pieces of artillery. The Mexicans were in a stone build- 
ing with walls three or four feet thick, and were protected 
besides by an outside stone- wall two feet high and six feet 
thick. The attack was made about midnight, the Texians 
clambering over the walls as best they could. At daylight, 
General Cos surrendered and gave up his twenty-two 
pieces of artillery, only stipulating for the return of his 
men to Mexico, and some of his small arms. 

The battle of Mier was fought under precisely equal cir- 
cumstances, so far as defences were concerned — the 
troops on both sides firing from the flat roofs of the houses. 
There were two hundred and seventy Texians engaged 
against twenty-six hundred Mexicans. The battle lasted 
eighteen hours, and the result was less than thirty Texians 
killed and woimded, and from five to seven hundred Mexi- 
cans. From information, upon which I have entire reli- 
ance, the Mexicans were about to retire and had their 
horses saddled for that purpose, when the Texians were 
most unfortunately induced to surrender, — their ammu- 
nition being nearly exhausted, and hearing that a lai-ge 
.reinforcement of the Mexican army was near at hand. 
When the prisoners who were taken at Mier, rose upon 



CHAP. XVIII.] TEXIAN CONFLICTS. 17T 

their guard on the march to Mexico, there were less than 
two hundred Texians, and the Mexican guard consisted of 
two hundred infantry and one hundred cavahy. The 
Texians had of course no arms of any sort, and the Mexi- 
cans anticipated the attack. Yet in fifteen minutes the 
Mexicans were defeated. Shall we go to war with such a 
people ? Shall we send Scott and Worth to glean a field 
which has been thus reaped ? 

If the main body of the Texians had not returned to 
Texas and had penetrated further into Mexico, no one can 
fix a limit to their triumphs. I have no doubt that they 
would have been extensive and important. I regret that 
I have not yet been able to procure a copy of General. 
Green's account of that short but most remarkable camr- 
paign, and the consequences which followed it. 



• CHAPTER XIX. 

iHeview of Mexican History since the Revolution — Provisions of the Con- 
stitution of Tacubaya — Departments of Government — Powers and Duties 
of the various Officers — Free Institutions without the Spirit of Freedom. 

Anything like an outline of the history of Mexico since the 
revolution which separated that country from Spain, would 
extend these pages very much beyond the limits which I 
'have prescribed to myself, and would require more time 
than I have at my disposal. The following hasty glance 
must therefore suffice. The overthrow of Iturbide in 
1823 was followed by the adoption in 1824 of a federal 
constitution, of which that of the United States was the 
model. Experience proved that this was much too closely 
followed. The constitution lasted, however, for a period 
much longer than any other is likely to do in Mexico. In 
1828, Santa Anna made a successful movement against the 
government of Pedraza, overthrew it, and shortly after- 
wards in the same way again put down Guerrero, who 
^was subsequently treacherously and foully murdered. In 
1832, Santa Anna again pronounced against Bustamente, 
and placed Pedraza in power. In 1833, he was elected 
President himself, and in 1835 he established the federal 
system, and aided by the priests founded a central govern- 
ment which was the cause and the just cause of the revolu- 
tion in Texas, Never could any people say, with more 
truth, non in hmc federa veni. 
In 1836, Santa Anna invaded Texas with a large army, 



CHAP. XIX.] CONSTITUTION OF TUCUBAYA. 179 

was defeated at San Jacinto, and made prisoner. After 
this he remained on his estate at Manga de Clavo, until 
1839, when, in a gallant attack upon the French who 
had landed at Vera Cruz, he lost his leg and recovered 
his reputation. In the fall of 1842, he again pronounced 
against Bustamente, overthrew and banished him. The 
chiefs of tlie army assembled at Tucubaya, a village three 
miles from Mexico, established .^a provisional government 
until a new constitution could be formed. By the seventh 
Article of the plan of this provincial government, it is pro- 
vided that the President shall have all powers necessary 
to organize the nation and all the branches of the gov- 
ernment. Santa Anna construed this grant as in fact con- 
ferring upon him absolute powers. He is not without high 
authority, however, in construing the words, " necessary 
powers," which there, as elsewhere, were only intended 
to convey auxiliai-y powers, into a grant not only of sub- 
stantive, but of all possible powers. Members were elected 
to form a new constitution, and assembled about the time 
of my arrival in Mexico. Their discussions were clever 
enough, but they talked too much about Greece and Rome. 
Perhaps the examples of these countries were more to their 
purpose and tastes than others more modern and more free ; 
their labors were about being closed, and it was known 
that the result would be the adoption of a constitution 
federal in its form. Santa Anna retired to his estate at 
Manga de Clavo, leaving old Bravo, President ad interim. 
Pronunciamentos were gotten up all over the country by 
the different military garrisons, in which the work of the 
Convention was denounced and the President requested to 
close its sessions, which he did. The event was celebrated 
by a grand military procession through the streets of 
Mexico. I have seen nothing so revolting as it was, nor 



^ 



180 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIX. 

anything which made me so despondent as to the future 
destinies of Mexico. It marched by my door, and I cannot 
express my feelings when I saw the ignorant and debased 
soldiery headed by their officers, who, as to the true prin- 
ciples of a government calculated to secure the libemes of 
the people, were little better informed, thus celebrating the 
triumph of brute force over the will of the people fairly 
expressed. 

I would here remark, that although I have a well settled 
opinion that a federal government is not suited to the cir- 
cumstances aud condition of Mexico, yet I am well satisfied 
that the federal party numbers in its ranks much the larger 
portion of the true patriots of the country. It was said, 
with how much truth I cannot decide, that Santa Anna 
absented himself from Mexico at this important juncture to 
avoid the responsibility of the act of closing the sessions of 
the Convention, and to throw that responsibility upon 
General Bravo. A new Convention soon after assembled, 
which was composed chiefly of members nominated by the 
President. This Convention adopted a constitution which 
went into operation in the beginning of the year 1844. 
Although I cannot go the whole length of the opinion 
expressed by Pope, that the government " which is best 
administered is best," yet I am satisfied that the present 
constitution of Mexico is better than another of those 
changes so disastrous to the country, and which have made 
Mexico the object of ridicule everywhere. 

Some of the leading provisions of this constitution are 
the following : — 

Slavery is for ever prohibited. 

The liberty of the Press is guaranteed ; a guarantee, how- 
ever, purely theoretical; it is no more free than in France^ 
nor as free. 






CHAP. XIX.] DEPARTMENTS OF GOVERNMENT. 181 

Equally theoretical is the provision that no one shall be 
arrested but by the authority of law. 

No taxes to be imposed but by the legislative authority. 

Private property not to be taken for pubHc uses but with 
just compensation. 

Mexicans to be preferred for public offices to strangers, 
if their qualifications are equal — a qualification, hy the way, 
of this provision which neutralizes it. 

Persons who have attained the age of eighteen years are 
entitled to the rights of citizens, if married ; if unmarried, 
twenty- one years ; and who have an annual income of two 
hundred dollars, either from labor or the profits of capital. 

After the year 1850, those only are to exercise the privi- 
leges of a citizen who can read and write. 

By becoming a domestic servant, the privileges of a 
citizen are suspended ; so, also, pending a criminal prose- 
cution — being a habitual drunkard or gambler, a vagrant or 
keeping a gaming-house. 

The rights of citizenship are lost by conviction of an in- 
famous crime, or for fraudulent bankruptcy, or by malver- 
sation in any public office. 

The legislative power is composed of a house of deputies 
and a senate, one deputy for every seventy thousand inha- 
bitants ; a supernumerary deputy shall be elected in all cases 
to serve in the absence of the regular deputy. 

The age prescribed for ^fiiembers of Congress is thirty 
years. They must have an annual income of twelve hun- 
dred dollars. One half of Jh^members to be re-elected 
every two years. 

The Senate is composed of sixty-three members, two- 
thirds of whom are to be elected by the departmental 
assemblies, the other third by the House of Deputies, the 
President of the RepubUc, and the Supreme Court ; each 



* 



182 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIX. 

department to vote for forty-three persons, and those hav- 
ing the highest number of votes of the aggregate of all 
the departmental assemblies are elected senators. The 
judges of the Supreme Court and the President shall vote 
in like manner for the remaining third ; and out of the 
names thus voted for by each of those departments of the 
government, the House of Deputies selects the proper num- 
ber (twenty-one). The first selection of this third of the 
Senators to be made by the President (Santa Anna) alone. 

The President of the Repubhc and Judges of the Supreme 
Court are required to vote only for such persons as have 
distinguished themselves by important public services, 
civil, military, or ecclesiastical. Amongst others disquali- 
fied from being elected members of the House of Deputies 
are the Archbishops, Bishops, and other high Ecclesiastical 
officers. 

The Senators elected by the Departments are required 
to be five agriculturists, and the same number of each of 
the following occupations — miners, merchants, and manu- 
facturers ; the remainder to be elected from persons who , 
have filled the office of President, Minister of State, Foreign 
Minister, Governor of a Department, Senator, Deputy, 
Bishop, or General of Division. The age of a Senator is 
thirty-five years, and an annual income of two thousand 
dollars, is required. 

One-third of the Senate to^erenewed every three years. 

All laws must originat^^^Hpiouse of Deputies. 

All treaties must be apfn^Ved by both Houses of Con- 
gress. Congress has a veto- upon all the decrees of the 
Departmental Assemblies which are opposed "^to the Con- 
stitution or the laws of Congress. 

Congress are forbidden to alter the laws laying duties on 



CHAP. XIX.] DEPARTMENTS OF GOVERNMENT. 183 

imports which are intended for the protection of domestic 
industry. 

No retrospective law or laws impairing the obligation 
of contracts to be passed. 

The Senate to approve the President's nomination of 
foreign ministers, consuls, and of officers in the army above 
the rank of Colonel. 

Members of Congress not to receive executive appoint- 
ments exce|fl#ith certain limitations, amongst which is the 
consent of the body to which they belong. 

The other powers of Congress are pretty much the same 
as in our own or other popular Constitutions. The Presi- 
dent must be a native of the country, and a layman, and 
holds his office for the term of five years. It is made his 
duty to supervise the courts of justice, and he may pre- 
scribe the order in which cases shall be tried He may im- 
pose fines not exceeding five hundred dollars upon those 
who disobey his lawful commands. Certain large powers 
are conferred upon him in relation to Concordats, Bulls, De- 
crees, and other ecclesiastical matters. He possesses a 
very qualified veto upon the acts of Congress. He may 
call an extra session of Congress, and prescribe the only 
subjects to be considered. The President not to exercise 
any military command without the consent of Congress. 
Not to leave the Republic during his term of office, nor for 
one year after its expiration, but with the consent of Con- 
gress, nor to go more than six leagues from the Capital, 
without the like permission. He shall in no case alienate, 
exchange or mortgage any portion of the territory of the 
Republic. All his acts must be approved by the Secretary 
of the Department to which it properly belongs. He can- 
not be prosecuted criminally except for Treason against 
the national independence or the form of government es- 



184 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIX. 

tablished by the Constitution during his term of office, nor 
for one year afterwards. 

During the temporary absence of the President, his func- 
tions devolve upon the President of the Senate ; if his ab- 
sence continues longer than fifteen days, a President ad 
interim shall be elected by the Senate. The other grants 
of power to the Executive seem to be pretty much copied 
from our own Constitution. 

The different Secretaries may attend tijfesessions of 
either branch of Congress, whenever required by them, or 
so ordered by the President, to give any explanations which 
may be desired. The Secretaries are responsible for all 
acts of the President in violation of the Constitution and 
laws which they may have approved. 

The Council of the President consists of seventeen mem- 
bers selected by himself. These Councillors must be thirty- 
five years old, and have served at least ten years without 
intermission in some public station. 

The Judges of the Supreme Court must be forty years 
old. 

The government may be impleaded in this Court by any 
individual (I think a wise and just provision) ; as miy also 
the Archbishops and Bishops in particular cases. 

A permanent court martial is also organized, composed 
of Generals and lawyers, appointed by the President. 

Each Department has an assembly of not more than 
eleven, nor less than seven members. Their powers are to 
impose taxes for the use of the Department ; establish 
schools and charitable institutions ; make roads and keep 
them in order ; arrange the mode of raising troops which 
may be required of the Department ; establish corporations ; 
superintend the police, and encourage agriculture ; propose 
laws to the Congress, and fit persons to the President for 



CHAP. XIX.] POWER AND DUTIES OP THE OFFICERS. 185 

the office of Governor of the Department (from the per- 
sons thus recommended, the President, except in extraor- 
dinary cases, must make the selection), establish judicial tri- 
bunals for their Departments, with many other powers of a 
similar character, and constituting the assembly a sort of 
state legislature, with jurisdiction of matters appertaining 
strictly to the Department. 

The whole Republic is divided into sections of five hun- 
dred inhabitants. Each of these sections selects by ballot 
one elector. These electors in turn elect others in the 
ratio of one for every twenty of the electors thus primarily 
elected. These last constitute the electoral college of the 
Department, which again elect the deputies of the general 
Congress, and the members of the Departmental assembly. 
All persons who have attained the age of twenty-five years 
are eligible as primary electors. The secondary electors 
must also have an income of five hundred dollars a 
year. On the first of November preceding the expiration 
of the term of office of the President, each of the Depart- 
mental assembUes is required to meet and cast their votes 
for his successor. A majority of the votes of this assem- 
bly decides the vote of the Department. On the second 
day of January both houses of Congress assemble tog.ether 
and declare the election. If no one has received the votes 
of a majority of the Departments, the two houses of Con- 
gress make the election from the two who have received 
the greatest number of votes. If more than two have an 
equal number of votes, the election is made from those who 
have received such equal number. If one has received a 
higher number, and two others have received a less and 
equal number of votes. Congress selects by ballot one of 
these last to compete with him who has received a 
higher number. This election is required to be finished in 
a single session. 



186 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XIX. 

In cases of a tie a second time in these elections, the 
choice is to be made by lot. 

Punishments shall in no case extend to confiscation of 
property, or to attainder. 

No cruel punishment shall be inflicted in capital cases, 
only such as are necessary to take life. 

The judges are responsible for any irregularities or mis- 
takes in their official proceedings. They hold their offices 
for life. 

■ Amendments of the Constitution to be made by a vote of 
two-thirds of both branches of Congress. 

The Catholic. religion is estabUshed to the exclusion of all 
others. Most of the other provisions of the constitution 
seem to be almost exactly copied from that of the United 
States. 

I think that this constitution is calculated to elevate the 
character of those who framed it very much beyond the 
general estimate of the intelligence of the Mexicans ; and 
that it is still more creditable in the general spirit of liberty 
which runs through all its provisions. I do not see that 
any of the guarantees are wanting for the security of +'ie 
rights of the citizen or the public liberty. But of what 
avail are free institutions without the spirit of liberty 
amongst the people ; or what avail are both without general 
intelligence and virtue ? " Quid valeant leges sine moribus ?" 
The history of other countries answers the question, but 
none so conclusively as the present almost hopeless condi- 
tion of Mexico — with a constitution quite liberal enough for 
any country. It is the profound remark of an eminent 
writer " that to endeavor to make a people free who are 
servile in their nature, is as hopeless as to attempt to re- 
duce to slavery a nation imbued with the spirit of freedom." 
I would very much prefer the spirit of liberty with despotic 
institutions, to free institutions without the spirit of liberty. 



CHAPTER XX. 

Want of Statistics — Census — Amount of Exports — Specie Exported — Ex- 
cessive Taxation — Taxes on Internal Commerce — Tobacco Monopoly — 
Peculation — Table of Revenues — Dilapidation of the large Estates. 

There is no such thing in Mexico as a statistical collection 
of any sort. It is a characteristic fact that the only attempts 
which have been made to make such a collection have been 
by foreigners — by Baron Humboldt, in 1804, and Mr. 
Brantz Mayer, recently the Secretary of the American 
Legation in Mexico. Mr. Mayer had access to the best 
sources of information, of which he has with praiseworthy 
diligence availed himself. No census has ever been taken 
since the revolution, not even in arranging the ratio of re- 
presentation in Congress. With such a population there 
would be great difficulty in making out a census with any 
tolerable accuracy. The whole population of the Republic 
is estimated or rather guessed at as amounting to seven 
millions. Of these it is supposed that between four and four 
and a half millions are pure-blooded Indians, about one 
million of white Europeans or their descendants, and the 
remainder Malattoes, Mestizoes and Zambos. My own 
observation would lead me to believe that the number of 
mulattoes is very small. I am sure that I never saw half a 
dozen in the city of Mexico, and the African blood is, I 
think, easily detected. The appearance of the mulattoes is 
almost as distinct from the Indian as it is from the white 
man ; there is a manifest difference even in color. Of the 



188 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XX. 

number of Mestizoes, descendants of the Indian and white 
races, it is impossible to form even a conjecture with any 
approach to accuracy. As the cross partakes more or less 
of either of the races, it is difficult to say whether the indi- 
vidual is of pure or mixed blood. When the Indian cross is 
remote it is difficult to distinguish the person from a swar- 
thy Spaniard, and so vice versa. Neither do I think that 
there are many Zambos, for the African blood shows itself as 
distinctly in the cross with the Indian as with the white man. 
I have never looked upon any color so horribly revolting 
as that of the Zambo. Many of the inhabitants of the Pa- 
cific coast are very dark, as dark as brown negroes, and 
darker than mulattoes, but have none of the physical or 
physiognomical peculiarities of the negro. They are tall, 
well-formed, fine-looking men, with limbs and faces much 
more Grecian than African. If I were to form an opinion 
from what I saw, I should say that the estimate of white 
persons is a large one. They are very much confined to 
the cities, and a few wealthy proprietors, who reside upon 
their estates. I am quite sure that nine of every ten per- 
sons whom one meets in the streets of Mexico are Indians 
or Mestizoes, and it is in that city that the white population 
is greater in proportion than anywhere else ; in travelling 
in the country it would be safe to wager that forty-nine of 
every fifty persons you might meet would be Indians. I 
have heretofore spoken of the sympathy of race, but it is 
not half so strong as the antipathy of race. The feelings 
of the Indians of Mexico towards the Spaniards is very 
much the same now that it was at the period of the Con- 
quest. Although everything admonishes them that the 
European is the superior race, they are generally averse to 
alliances with them, and whenever such are formed, they 
are prompted more by interest than inclination. How can 



CHAP. XX.] EXPORTS. 189 

it be otherwise ? The original wrongs of the invasion of 
their country, and the horrible massacres which followed 
it, have been aggravated by three centuries of grinding 
oppression, without one effort to educate them or to pro- 
mote their advances in civilized life. The single exception 
which can be made to this remark is in the efforts to con- 
vert them to " nuestra santa fe." And as to the masses, 
I have before remarked that these efforts have done little 
more than to substitute one worship of images for another. 

In the neighborhood of the cities the natives professed 
the Christian religion ; many of them from fear, others from 
interest, and others again in sincerity, captivated by the 
thousand objects which address their senses and excite their 
feelings. In the more remote and secluded portions of the 
country they worship in secret the same grotesque figures 
which were the objects of the devout adoration of their 
early ancestors. A very intelligent Indian promised to 
procure for me some of these idols, which, failing to do, he 
told me in great confidence, knowing that I was no Catho- 
lic, that the Indians who had them would not sell them at 
any price. " What," said I, " do they still worship them ?" 
" Yes, Sir," said he, " with as much devotion as they ever 
did, but always in secret." The principal difference that I 
could see in the two superstitions was, that the Christian 
images were the handsomest. But I am not sure that in this 
they are any the better suited to the notions of an ignorant 
and uncivilized people, whose only idea of a God is that he 
is powerful and revengeful ; and hence the universality of 
the practice of all savage people, of offering sacrifices to 
propitiate his wrath. With such an idea of God, I can 
conceive of nothing better than an ancient Mexican idol. 

From the best attainable data, the annual exports of Mexico 
amount to about twenty millions — less than two millions of 



190 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XX. 

which consist of all other articles than the precious metals. 
I have no doubt that the amount of specie exported is very 
much larger than is indicated by the books of the custom 
houses. A duty of six per cent, is levied upon all that is ex- 
ported, and no one acquainted with the character and prac- 
tices of Mexican custom houses, and I may add, of their 
officers, . can believe that the whole amount is returned. 
The duty upon all that is not returned goes into the pockets 
of the officers of the customs, and I have no doubt that it 
amounts to a very large sum. Gold is an article so easily 
smuggled that enormous sums are sent off in almost every 
vessel which sails for Europe. The amount of duties on 
imports varies, of course, with their ever-changing tariff. 
Those who had the best means of forming an accurate 
estimate during my residence in Mexico, told me that it 
amounted to from four to six millions per annum. This, 
also, would be a most fallacious standard by which to esti- 
mate the amount of importations, for the same reason. 
Eminent writers upon political economy say that any duty 
above twenty-five per cent, offers temptations to smuggling 
too strong to be resisted. With all the efforts of Buonaparte 
to carry out his continental system, he was unable to pre- 
vent smuggling upon the very limited coast of France — and 
the insurance in England upon a cargo of goods intended 
to be smuggled into France was little more than on the 
same cargo to be regularly imported. How extensive must 
the practice be in a country of more than ten thousand 
miles of seaboard and frontier, and with so sparse a popu- 
lation ! The amount of revenue from imports would indi- 
cate an importation of not more than fifteen millions of 
dollars. What goes with the other five millions of exports, 
to say nothing of the large amounts of specie clandestinely 
exported ? 



CHAP. XX.] TAXATION. 191 

In addition to the revenue derived from imports, the di- 
rect taxes are exceedingly onerous. Everything is taxed, 
from the splendid palaces, coaches, and plate of the wealthy, 
to the dozen eggs vs^hich the poor Indian brings to mar- 
ket. I do not suppose there is any city in the world where 
houses are taxed so high, and hence the enormous rents. 
But after paying the taxes very little is left to the proprietor. 
A decent house cannot be had for less than twenty-five hun- 
dred dollars, and from that price to four and five thousand 
dollars per annum. 

The government seems to have been engaged in the ex- 
periment of how much taxation the people can bear, and 
they have really achieved a miracle almost as gi'eat as that 
of extracting blood from a turnip. There is no country in 
the world, which, from its unsurpassed climate, variety of 
productions and lands, to be had almost for the taking, which, 
in proportion to its population, is capable of producing so 
much, — certainly none which does produce so little. The 
population of Massachusetts is about one-tenth as great as 
that of Mexico, and its productions very nearly in an inverse 
ratio with the number of the respective populations — exclud- 
ing the produce of the mines very much more than in that 
inversed ratio. Where they find the subjects of taxation 
was a riddle which I was unable to solve. 

Besides the sources of revenue which I have mentioned, 
there is another and a very large one from imposts on 
internal commerce, that is between one department and 
another. Every article of commerce thus passing from 
one department to another, provided it has been opened 
and the bulk broken, is thus taxed. The principal revenue 
from the alcaba, internal duties, thus derived is from the 
duty on specie. The revenue from duties on internal com- 
merce in 1840, amounted to four millions and a half. 



192 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XX. 

Another fruitful source of revenue is the percentage of the 
produce of the mines, seignorage, coining, &c. The 
charges upon money taken from the mines amount to about 
five per cent, all of which is paid to the departmental 
government. The General Government receives in addition 
to this about three per cent, which goes to support the 
College of the Mineria in the city of Mexico. 

The tobacco monopoly has heretofore been a source of 
very large revenues to the government. The culture of 
tobacco is prohibited except to a very limited extent in the 
districts of Orizaba and Cordova. Each farmer is restrict- 
ed to a limited number of acres. The tobacco produced is 
sold to the government at a stated price, which was very 
much below its real value, by whose agents it was made 
into cigars and snuff, and sold at very large profits. I say 
made into cigars and snuff, for those are the only forms in 
which it is used ; I do not suppose that there is one native 
Mexican who uses tobacco for chewing. Within the last 
three years this monopoly was sold by the government to 
a private company. This company agreed to pay $50,000 
per month for this monopoly, which in the time of the Vice 
Regal government yielded the enormous sum of five mil- 
lions per annum. This contract has since been rescinded, 
and the government still possesses the monopoly, which 
would if properly managed, and if smuggling could be pre- 
vented, produce very nearly as much at this time. But the 
latter is impossible, and the receipts from this source very 
little more than cover the expenses of the establishment. 
At all events the net proceeds do not exceed the sum 
stipulated to be paid by the company to which it was trans- 
ferred, that is to say 1600,000 per annum. 

A similar sale took place just before I left Mexico of the 
interest of one third which the government owned in the 



CHAP. XX.] REVENUES. 193 

Fresnillo mine, which is at this time the most profitable of 
all the mines in Mexico. The government derived a reve- 
nue of upwards of five hundred thousand dollars per annum 
from this mine, which it nevertheless sold in fee simple for 
about four hundred thousand dollars. That is to say, that 
sum was all which went into the public exchequer — how 
much more in gratifications I know not ; but a very large 
sum of course. Is it any wonder that officers in the army 
are forced to sell a certificate of pay due them amounting 
to twenty-five hundred dollars, for one hundred and 
twenty-five ? 

Before the revolution the King of Spain received among 
other Ecclesiastical revenues, the ninth part of the tithes, 
which was granted him by the Pope. After the revolution 
compulsory process for the collection of tithes was abolish- 
ed, and since that time the government has received no- 
thing from this source, nor am I aware of any other 
revenues which are derived from the church. 

There are revenues derived from the cock-pits, the sale 
of pulque, the monopoly of playing cards, and the ice 
which the Indians bring on their backs in panniers, from 
the mountain of Popocatepelt, a distance of forty miles, 
which last has amounted to as much as fifty thousand 
dollars a year. 

Another source of revenue is the manufacture of gun- 
powder, of which an immense quantity is used, not only in 
their civil wars, but in the mines, firing cannon on days of 
religious festivals, and fireworks, for which the Mexicans 
have a great passion. The powder manufactured in 
Mexico is of the most inferior quality ; good powder such 
as is used by sportsmen sells as high as four dollars the 
pound. The chief, if not the only benefit which the gov- 
10 



194 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XX. 

ernment now derives from this source, is the powder which 
is used in the public service. 

The revenue from the post-office amounts to Httle more 
than what is required to pay the expenses of the establish- 
ment. It would be very much larger if it were not for the 
numerous government expresses which are charged upon 
the post-office establishment. 

Some small amount is realized from the sale of lottery 
tickets, which would be larger but for special grants to the 
convents and other religious establishments, to raise funds 
by lotteries. 

Heretofore something was derived from the manufac- 
tories of salt, of which a very large quantity is used. In 
addition to the consumption in the ordinary modes, large 
quantities are used in the process of amalgamation in the 
mints. It is obtained from Yucatan and some establishments 
in the northern departments, and the Lake of Tezcuco, on 
the borders of the city of Mexico. When the rainy season 
ceases and the waters subside, a large portion of the bed of 
the lake is covered with a deposit of salt which is that 
chiefly used in the neighborhood of the city of Mexico. 

The revenue from the different mints is considerable, but 
there are no data from which it can be accurately stated." 
Heretofore the only mint was that in the city of Mexico, 
but others have been established in Guadalajara, Guana- 
juato, Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, San Louis, Potosi 
and Guadaloupe de Calvos. The profits of the mint in the 
city of Mexico were at one time very great, but the num- 
ber of officers, clerks and laborers is as great now as it was 
when there was no other in Mexico, and of consequence 
these profits are very much diminished. Most of these 
mints are leased by contract to private companies for a 
stipulated sum. From half a million to a million of dollars 



CHAP. XX.] REVENUES. 195 

are, probably, derived from this source. The per cent- 
age upon the metals taken from the mines, w^hich is 25 cents 
upon every mark of silver, or about 3 per cent, will give say 
another million ofdoUars, and there are other duties amount- 
ing to about five per cent. These last are appropriated to 
the payment of the expenses of the governments of the 
departments, but as the government is now organized these 
expenses are charged to the central government. The 
three per cent, above mentioned is dedicated to the sup- 
port of the Mineria (the College of Mines). 

Under the government of the federalists, each depart- 
ment or state was required to pay a sum which was 
assessed for the support of the Federal government, as was 
the case under our own government of the confederation — 
and, as with us, this contingent was not always paid. 

Another item in the reports of the Mexican Secretaries 
of the Treasury is the Discuatos delos Invalidos de Monte 
Reo — which was a certain per centage of the officers 
and soldiers which was retained for the purpose of rais- 
ing a pension fund, exactly upon the plan of our own 
Naval Pension Fund ; but as the army are never paid their 
full wages, this fund is little more than a fiction. 

The maritime custom-houses, in 1832, yielded to the gov- 
ernment the sum of twelve millions, that is to say that sum 
was acknowledged to have been received by the respec- 
tive custom-house officers ; how much more the actual 
receipts were can only be conjectured. It would, however, 
be very safe to say at least one third. 

The receipts at the Maritime Custom Houses do not now 
amount to more than six or seven millions. As nothing 
is more capricious than Mexican legislation on the subject 
of imports on foreign commerce, it is very difficult to form 
an estimate approximating accuracy upon this point. 



196 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XX. 

Their tariff has recently been reduced, and an increase of 
revenue will certainly be the consequence. Besides the 
revenue from imports as shown by the books of the custom- 
house, a very considerable amount is derived from special 
licenses given to private companies to import certain arti- 
cles, such as cotton, the importation of which is prohibited, 
upon the payment of a stipulated sum to the government. 
The receipts of the interior custom-houses cannot be much 
less than those in the seaports. The duty on money, for 
example, sent from Mexico to Vera Cruz to be exported, 
besides the duty of six per cent., is five per cent. All 
goods sent from one department to another are also sub- 
ject to a duty if the bulk has been broken. 

The direct taxes, such as those on houses, lands, car- 
riages, and horses, transfers of all property, capitation taxes 
cartos de segurldad (letters of security), which all foreign- 
ers are required to have, taxes on pulque, ice, in short 
everything, amount to some three or four millions. 

The following, although not pretending to minute accu- 
racy, may be regarded as in some degree an approximation 
to a correct estimate of the revenues of the government, 
and the sources from which they are derived : — 

From the Maritime Custom-Houses, $6,500,000 
Interior Commerce, .... 4,500,000 

Direct Taxes, 3,000,000 

Per centage on Produce of Mines, . 1,000,000 

Profits of Mints, 500,000 

Tobacco Monopoly, .... 500,000 
Post-office, Lotteries, Manufactures of 

Powder and Salt, .... 500,000 
Tolls and all other sources, . . 500,000 



$10,000,000 



CHAP. XX.] DILAPIDATION OF ESTATES. 197 

It is proper to add to this amount the taxes levied by the 
different departments which may be stated at four millions 
.more, making an aggregate of twenty-one millions, to which 
an addition should be made of five or ten millions more 
which is paid, but embezzled, and, therefore, does not find 
its way into the public treasury. 

With a government wisely and honestly administered, 
this sum is more than is necessary. But how that of 
Mexico is supported with it, and whence it is derived, are 
both, as I have said, inexplicable to me. Besides their 
army, of thirty to forty thousand, for that is the number on 
the pay list, and an immense disproportion of this army 
officers, not less than from two to three hundred generals, 
an otherwise enormous civil list, and the interest on a 
debt very little short of a hundred millions of dollars, 
there are a great variety of other and extraordinary 
charges upon a government so unstable and revolutionary.* 
With a productive industry at least fifty times as great as 
that of Mexico, very little more than the sum above stated 
is levied upon our people, doubtless not so much if we 
take into the estimate the greater expense there of collec- 
tion, which is estimated at thirty per cent. Taking pecu- 
lations into the calculation, I have no doubt it is much 
more. And all of these taxes are of course, like all taxes, 
ultimately paid by the people. The annual expenditure of 
the Vice regal government was never more than eight 
millions of dollars. Can it be true that it costs more to 
execute laws made by the people themselves than the edicts 
of a despot ? 

* The Report of the Secretary of the Treasury in 1832, contains an esti- 
mate of the whole expenses of the government for the next year, amount- 
ing to ^22,392,508. Of this sum the estimate for the army is stated at 
#16,466,121. 



198 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [CHAP. XX. 

To all these heavy items must be added the taxes which 
are levied by the different departments for domestic pur' 
poses, the heavy exactions of tithes and other compulsory 
contributions to the church. These last have been esti- 
mated at two millions, but they must greatly exceed that 
amount. There are in the city of Mexico alone, seven or 
eight hundred secular and near two thousand regular 
clergy. The salaries of some of them are enormous. 
Under the Vice regal government the various perquisites 
and salary of the archbishop amounted to $130,000, and 
those of several of the bishops to $100,000, but they are all 
much less now. Exclusively of donations and birth-day 
presents, which are often very large, the archbishop does 
not receive more than thirty or forty thousand dollars, and 
the incomes of the bishops are proportionately reduced. 

Some idea may be formed of the amount of these birth- 
day presents, from the fact that General Santa Anna, on 
the anniversary of his birth, has been known to receive 
presents to the amount of $20,000. 

All these enormous charges are to be paid out of the 
productions of a country where less is produced than in 
any other, except from the mines. Perhaps the universal 
dilapidation of all the old and large estates may indicate 
the quarter from which much of the revenue has hitherto 
been derived. 

The large estates and possessions of the banished Jesuits 
have supplied the government with very large sums. But 
these, with the mine of Fresnillo, have all been sold and the 
money wasted. These spendthrift expedients of selling 
estates to pay current expenses must soon have, if they have 
not already, an end ; and I do not see how even an econom- 
ical and frugal administration will, in future, be able to find 
the means of defraying even the necessary expenses of the 



CHAP. XX.] DILAPIDATION OF ESTATES. 



199 



government, and this is perhaps the greatest of all the many- 
difficulties which are to be overcome. 

There are not many vv^ealthy men in the city of Mexico, 
fewer I think than in any city in the United States of 
treble the same size. The larger number of these are per- 
sons who have made their fortunes by government con- 
tracts and speculations in government stocks. Most of the 
large estates at the commencement of the revolution have 
become dilapidated. These large estates were chiefly, if not 
entirely, owned by Spaniards who were generally the adhe- 
rents of the cause of the mother country, for the maxim of 
Juvenal, " Quantum quisquis habet in urbe tantum habet 
et fidei," is as true now as it was when the line was written. 
An incident occurred which afforded me a distressing 
proof of the ruin which the revolution had caused to the 
loyalists of Mexico, and at the same time a gratifying evi- 
dence of the estimate, which was general there, of the influ- 
ence of my government. 

A poor fellow in rags called to see me, and asked my 
aid in procuring indemnity for an estate of his father, 
amounting to five or six millions, which had been appro- 
priated by one of the patriotic Generals to the use of his 
army, during the war of Independence. I told him that as 
he was not an American citizen, I could not assist him in 
my official capacity, and that it was not proper that I 
should do so in any other way. He then asked me 
whether if he were to come to the United States and be- 
come a citizen, I could not then interpose in his behalf, I 
told him that I could not. I had, however, some curiosity 
to look into his papers, which furnished the most conclusive 
evidence of the justice of his claim. Such cases were not 
at all uncommon. 

1 have rarely met with a more accomplished and elegant 



200 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XX. 

lady than the venerable old Countess who is so gratefully 
and affectionately mentioned by Mr. Brantz Mayer. She 
was reduced from great opulence to extreme poverty, 
but with the great penury which her household exhi- 
bited, she showed in her manners, conversation and senti- 
ments, all of the high bred Castilian lady. 

Machiavel says that in a new government everything 
should be new. " Whoever makes himself head of a state 
(especially if he suspects his ability to keep it) must, as the 
best course, make everything as new as himself, — alter the 
magistracy, create new titles, confer new authorities, un- 
charter corporations, advance the poor, impoverish the rich ; 
and what is said of David may be said of him — ' he filled the 
hungry with good things and the rich he sent empty away.^ '* 
The Mexican revolutionists at least resembled David in 
one half of what is said of him — but only in that half. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Prohibition of Raw Cotton — Attempts to procure a Modification of this 
Policy— Public Debt of Mexico— Mines of the Precious Metals— Present 
Productiveness — Undeveloped Resources— Capacities of Mexico if inha- 
bited by the people of the United States. 

The article of raw cotton is one of the articles which are 
prohibited. The home supply is never equal to the very- 
small demand of their own manufacturers, and the law is, 
therefore, relaxed very frequently. 

The privilege of importing a certain number of bales is 
granted to some commercial company for a stipulated sum, 
paid to the government, and, as it was said, a douceur not 
less in amount to the officers of the government. 

I made very great exertions to procure a modification 
of this prohibitory policy, more particularly as to raw cot- 
ton and coarse cotton goods, but in vain. I found Santa 
Anna thoroughly armed with all the arguments in favor of 
the protective policy, and I confess that I think that if there 
is a country in the world where that policy is wise, that 
Mexico is that country. Every Mexican who can be 
tempted to labor is just that much gained to the productive- 
ness as well as to the morals of the country ; and, if they 
could be generally so tempted, too high a price could not 
well be paid for such a boon. 

The public debt of Mexico may be, I think, safely stated 
to be little, if anything, less than a hundred millions of dol- 
lars. Of this amount, something more than sixty millions 
are due to foreigners, including a debt of thirty-six millions 
10* 



202 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXI. 

of the Vice-royal Government, which was assumed by 
Mexico after her independence, and twenty-five millions 
more to Mexican citizens. A large portion of this debt was 
originally in the form of Treasury notes, receivable at the 
Custom House. This was the estimate when I left Mexico, 
near two years ago. Since that time there have been two 
revolutions — and revolutions are nowhere unexpensive — so 
that, including these and all other floating and unliquidated 
demands, such as the claims of our own citizens for in- 
demnity, I am very confident that the whole pubhc debt 
does not fall short of the amount which I have stated. 

According to Humboldt, there were three thousand mines 
of the precious metals in Mexico in 1804. Since that time 
many more have, no doubt, been discovered. Any one 
who discovers a new mine receives a grant from the 
government for a certain portion of land, including the 
mine. Not one-fiftieth of these mines are worked, which 
is attributed, in a great degree, to the high price of quick- 
silver. This is caused by the monopoly, by the Rothschilds, 
of the quicksilver mines of Spain, from which the article is 
chiefly supplied. 

There are no veins of gold ore which have yet been dis- 
covered in Mexico, with the exception of a few in the 
neighborhood of Oaxaca. A very small amount of gold is 
obtained from working the earth of deposit mines. The 
principal portion of the gold is found in combination with 
silver ores. The ores of Guanahuato aflford the largest 
proportion qf gold, which is about three pennyweights of 
gold to one mark of silver. Where the proportion of gold 
thus combined with silver is small, they are never separated, 
the amount of gold not being an adequate compensation for 
the very expensive process of separation. These ores are 
principally found in veins of various width, and generally 



CHAP. XXI.] MINES. 203 

with a dip of about forty-five degrees, and always in beds 
of primitive rock, most commonly porphyry. In this, I 
think, they differ from the mines yet discovered in this 
country ; I know of none which have been found in that 
species of rock. 

The produce of the mines of Mexico is quite as large, or 
larger, now than at any other period, taking an average of 
ten years, but nothing so profitable to the proprietors, 
owing to the immense investments in machinery, and the 
greater labor of raising the ores now compared with the 
rude and unexpensive machinery heretofore used, and the 
comparatively small labor of taking out the ores. The 
company which now owns the great mine of Real del 
Monte have, in the last few years, expended, in machinery 
and other ways, several millions of dollars. The shaft of 
that mine is nearly a thousand yards deep. Baron Hum- 
boldt gives the gross produce of the mines of Mexico, from 
1690 to 1803, both years inclusive, as amounting to 
81,358,452,020, about twelve millions of dollars per annum. 
The highest amount, which was in the year 1796, was 
$25,644,566. The produce of the year 1804 he states at 
$24,000,000. Mr. Ward estimates the annual produce, for 
a few years prior to 1810, at $24,000,000. After that 
period, from the revolutionary condition of the country, it 
dwindled almost to nothing — in one year to three and a 
half millions of dollars. The official returns for the year 
1842 exhibit an exportation of gold and silver, as registered 
at the Custom Houses, amounting to $18,500,000. The 
facility with which large values in gold may be concealed, 
and thus clandestinely exported, and the temptation to do 
so from the high duty of six per cent, on exportation, 
caused a very large amount to be smuggled. That this 
was extensively practised was known to every one in 
Mexico. To form any accurate estimate of the amount of 



204 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. XXI. 

the exports of specie, a very large addition must be made 
on this account. Three or four milUons would scarcely 
cover it.. Add to these the amount retained in the country, 
and it will be very safe to assume the present produce of 
the mines at from twenty-two to twenty-four millions of 
dollars per annum. The whole amount coined at the mint 
in the city of Mexico since the Conquest is $443,000,000 ; 
since 1690, $295,968,750. Mining in Mexico, as every- 
where else, is a game of chance ; and, like all games of 
chance, there are many more losers than winners amongst 
those who play at it. 

It is risking very little to say that if Mexico was inhabited 
by our race, that the produce of the mines would be at 
least five times as great as it now is. There is not a mine 
which would not be worked, and as many more new ones 
discovered. In five years, with such a population, and only 
of an equal number with that which Mexico now has, I do 
not hesitate to assert that the mineral and agricultural ex- 
ports alone would nearly equal all the exports of any other 
country of the world. The last time I examined the tables 
upon that subject, the whole exports of the produce of Bri- 
tish labor was about two hundred and sixty millions of dol- 
lars per annum. Mexico in the possession of another race 
would approach that amount in ten years. Recent mani- 
festations of a rabid, I will not say a rapacious, spirit of 
acquisition of more territory on the part of our countrymen 
may well cause a race so inferior in all the elements of 
power and greatness to tremble for the tenure by which 
they hold this El Dorado. 'Tis not often, with nations at 
least, that such temptations are resisted, or that " danger 
winks on opportunity." I trust, however, that our maxim 
will ever be — " Noble ends by worthy means attained," and 
that we may remember that wealth improperly acquired 
never ultimately benefited an individual or a nation. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Want of Navigable Streams in Mexico — Railroad from Vera Cruz to Mex- 
ico — Valley of the Mississippi — Mineral and Vegetable Productions — 
Cotton — Rice — Wax — Silk — Manufactures of Cotton — Mechanic Arts. 

It would seem that the only valuable gift which a bountiful 
Providence has withheld from Mexico is that of navi- 
gable streams. There is no such thing as a steamboat 
running a single mile in any river in the whole Republic. 
Perhaps there are not five hundred miles of all their rivers 
which are navigable for boats of the smallest size. It may 
be that the progressive improvements in the science of rail- 
roads may furnish the means of supplying this defect. I 
do not doubt that a railroad from Vera Cruz to the city of 
Mexico, constructed at almost any cost, would be extremely 
profitable to the stockholders. A very large proportion of 
all the European manufactures and merchandise Which are 
consumed in all Mexico are landed at Vera Cruz, and car- 
ried to the city of Mexico on mules, at a very high rate of 
freight, and thence distributed all over the Republic. The 
distance from the city of Mexico to Acppulco is not more 
than one hundred and seventy miles, and by extending the 
railroad to that point the great desideratum of a connection 
between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans would be accom- 
plished. The elevation to be overcome is about eight 
thousand five hundred feet. I am not sufficiently versed in 
such matters to say whether the thing is practical, but if it 
is, I should have no hesitation in saying that the investment 



206 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. XXII. 

would pay a good interest even if the road should cost two 
hundred thousand dollars a mile. The commerce of Mex- 
ico alone would insure this ; and if to that can be added 
the immense trade of India and China, it would be difficult 
even to conjecture the future profits. I have not much 
faith in the Indian race ever being induced to labor — but if 
anything could accomplish this, it would be such a measure 
as I have indicated. Industry languishes without adequate 
reward ; and there is nothing which so stimulates produc- 
tion as the facility of transportation. I believe that next 
to the influence of our free institutions, there is no other ele- 
ment of the future greatness and power of this country in 
any degree equal in importance to the Mississippi river. I 
remember to have read in some of the memoirs of Buona- 
parte, I think in the volume written by the Abbe Marbeuf, 
an account of the discussion between Talleyrand and Buo- 
naparte when the latter was about to cede Louisiana to the 
United States, very much in opposition to the advice of 
Talleyrand ; but Buonaparte, who was very much the more 
far-seeing man, knew that England would have seized upon 
it, and therefore wisely determined to put it out of harm's 
way. T&.lleyrand said to him in this discussion, "You 
have been anxious to build up a navy. No nation ever had 
a powerful military marine without first having a large 
commercial one ; this you cannot have without commerce. 
This country of Louisiana is capable of supplying every 
want which France itself does not produce, and in the in- 
terchange of these you may build up an extensive and pros- 
perous commerce." All of this is true. 

Most of the other large rivers of the world run through 
very much the same lines of latitude ; not so with the 
Mississippi, which flows through regions affording almost 
every climate inhabited by civilized man, and supplies the 



CHAP. XXII.] MINERAL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 207 

productions, mineral and agricultural, of every part of the 
globe — the peltries of the frozen forests of the Rocky- 
Mountains, the grains of the north-western States, the cot- 
ton, sugar, and rice of the south- w^estern, and lower down, 
the fruits of the tropic. We may get into a steamboat at 
the Balize, and ascend the river two thousand miles to the 
Falls of St. Anthony, without any perceptible difference in 
the width or breadth of the stream, bordered for the 
whole length with the broadest and most fertile lands in the 
world. Then, there are the Red River, Arkansas and Mis- 
souri, navigable for two or three thousand miles, and ter- 
minating in as yet a terra incognita, — to say nothing of 
the Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee and many others, any 
of which would be regarded as great rivers anywhere 
else. Malthus would never have felt any fears, if he had 
ascended the Mississippi, of population overrunning sub- 
sistence. No one who has never ascend ed that river, can 
have any adequate conception of the population, wealth, 
and power, to which the country which it washes is cer- 
tainly destined. 

Perhaps, in one point of view, the Mexicans are fortu- 
nate in having no such river, for if they had it is not 
possible that they would be permitted to retain the pos- 
session of the country — nor unless they improve the advan- 
tages so profusely showered upon a land so favored would 
it be right that they should. 

There are not only no navigable streams in Mexico, but 
very few of any sort in the portions of the country which I 
visited ; I do not think that the road from Vera Cruz to the 
city of Puebla crosses running water a dozen times in a 
distance of two hundred miles. There is scarcely any 
timber of any description on the table lands of Mexico. 
The loftier mountains which rise above these table lands 



208 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. XXII. 

are very well timbered. This deficiency causes the less 
inconvenience as the Maguey aflfords not only a cheap and 
secure fence, but vp^hen it matures it is a source of large 
profit, and as for fire, they need none except for cooking. 
The fuel used for that purpose is charcoal, brought by 
the Indians from the mountains in panniers and sold very 
cheap. 

From the data heretofore given, the reader will perceive 
that the productive labor of Mexico, beyond the supply of 
the means of subsistence, means almost exclusively that 
which is employed in mining operations, and that those 
operations are very much confined to the precious metals. 
No country more abounds in large masses of iron ore, 
and it so happens that the regions where it is found are 
well timbered and are capable of supplying at little cost 
the fuel for its manufacture, yet very little iron is made 
there ; there may be one or two iron furnaces, possibly 
more, but the greater portion of what is used is imported. 
The quantity used, however, is probably less than in any 
other of the same population. Horses, for instance, are 
never shod, and it is curious to see them galloping unshod 
over the streets paved with stones. 

Tin, lead, and the finest copper are also found there 
in large bodies, but very little of either is taken from the 
mines. 

Cochineal, cocoa, vanilla, jalap and hides are the princi- 
pal, I may say, the only articles of export, except the pre- 
cious metals. These vary in amount from one to two 
millions a year. 

Two crops may be raised in the year in much the larger 
portion of Mexico. This, however, is rarely done, for the 
people are too indolent to cultivate even one. I believe 
that this is in a great degree attributable to the want of 



CHAP. XXII.] MINERAL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 209 

transportation and a convenient market. The farmers 
make enough to supply the domestic demand, and if they 
made twice as much they would probably receive a smaller 
gross sum for it. 

The immense estates of which I have spoken of eighty 
and 100 leagues square, with eighty or a hundred thou- 
sand cattle, and fifteen or twenty thousand mules and horses, 
yield very little profit. Perhaps not one acre out of ten 
thousand on these estates is cultivated. The grass is green 
all the year round, and their horses and cattle receive and 
seem to require no other food ; they multiply as the birds 
do, and with little more profit to the proprietors of the 
estates. Now and then, the government purchases five 
hundred or a thousand horses for the army, but, with 
this exception, there are very few occasions when they can 
be sold. The average price for droves of unbroken horses 
is eight or ten dollars a head, and mules the same. The 
mules are generally small, but by no means too small for 
any service, nor smaller than those frequently used in this 
country, I have seen mules, however, in Mexico, as large 
as any I have 3ver seen elsewhere. The most of these 
are brought from California, and other departments north 
of Mexico ; a pair of these large mules will sell for a 
thousand dollars, and that sum has frequently been paid 
for one fine saddle mule. 

I have before remarked that enough cotton is not raised 
to supply the very limited demand of the Mexican manu- 
facturers. The most of this is produced in the districts 
which lie upon the Pacific Ocean, but the climate of nearly 
all Mexico is suited to the growth of cotton. I can see no 
reason why it is not produced in much larger quantities, 
bearing, as it does, so enormous a price, except the charac- 
teristic indolence of the people. If the country was occu- 



210 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [CHAP. XXII. 

pied by a population from this country equal to that of 
Mexico, the amount of cotton produced in the world would 
be doubled. 

A sufficient quantity of rice is produced to supply the 
domestic demand. It is very generally used. 

An immense quantity of beeswax is consumed, as may 
well be supposed from the number of churches, in all of 
which wax candles are always kept burning, as well as in 
their religious processions — from the visit of a poor priest 
to a dying lepero to a procession of thirty or forty thousand 
on the festival of Corpus Christi. But they will not make 
a sufficient supply even of this article. Large quantities 
are annually imported. 

Very little silk is made in Mexico. A company, how- 
ever, has lately been organized for the purpose of intro- 
ducing the culture extensively, and has sent an agent to 
France as preliminary to that object. I should think that 
no country in the world offered more, if as many, advan- 
tages for the raising the silk-worm and making silk. 

Last, and by no means least, is the cultivation of the 
maguey, or American aloe, the juice of which, after fer- 
mentation, is the great Mexican drink — pulque. No other 
culture in Mexico is half so profitable. It is perhaps inac- 
curate to say culture, for no labor whatever is bestowed 
upon the plant after it is first put in the ground. 

I have no data from which to form even a conjecture of 
the number of yards of coarse cottons which are annually 
manufactured in Mexico. It is estimated that eight mil- 
lions of dollars are invested in these manufactories. From 
that fact those skilled in such matters may be able to form 
some estimate of the quantity manufactured. It would 
be well, however, in making such an estimate to consider 
that the same machinery could be put up in this country at 



CHAP. XXII.] MECHANIC ARTS. 211 

one-third of what it has cost in Mexico, and that an esta- 
blishment in which the managers and operatives were 
Americans would probably make at least five yards for 
one. With the exception of a few of the manufactories in 
Puebla the business of manufacturing cotton has not been 
profitable in Mexico. One or two Americans have gone 
there and attempted it, but their experiments have ended in 
bankruptcy. 

The mechanical arts are in a low condition. Most of the 
articles of every description which are used there are 
brought from other countries, with the exception of plate, 
saddles and a few others. Large quantities of plate are 
manufactured both for churches and individuals. I never 
saw a handsome piece, however, which was made there. 
They say that the saddlers of no other country can make 
a Mexican saddle. I do not think any decent saddler would 
if he could. There are two articles, however, which I be- 
lieve have never been manufactured in any other country 
— the rebozo (a long shawl worn by the women), and the 
sarape, which is used all the year round by the men. The 
rebozo is made either of cotton or silk, and sometimes one- 
half of each. Those made of cotton are most esteemed, 
and sell for the highest price. They sell for from twenty 
to fifty and a hundred dollars. If they could be made as 
other similar fabrics are, by European skill and machinery, 
they would not cost ten dollars. The sarape is nothing 
more than a blanket, the warp of cotton and the filling of 
wool, with all the fantastical figures woven upon it which 
characterize the Indian taste for wampum and beads. 
They sell at from three dollars to three hundred. In summer 
or winter nearly every Indian you meet has one thrown 
over his shoulders, and in the rainy season no man rides 
five miles without one. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

A Miscellany Chapter — Three Lions of Mexico — Calendar Stone— Burial 
Ground of Santa Maria — The Paseo — Santa Anna's Coach driven by an 
American — Reflections — Mexican Carriages — Costly Equipage — Mexi- 
can Women on Horseback — The Theatre — The Bull Fight — Mean Tem- 
perature — Character of the Mexicans, by Clavigero. 

There are so many things in Mexico of a character so 
unique, and to an American so new and striking, that there 
is great danger of falhng into a wearisome tediousness and 
drivelling on the one hand, or omitting many objects of 
interest on the other. And as most readers will more 
readily pardon the latter fault, I will hasten to a conclusion, 
that I may turn to other more pleasant and profitable occu- 
pations. The reader will find this chapter a sort of 
melange of such disjointed recollections as my memory 
may serve me with — and of course without any harmony 
or coincidence — as a frugal housewife makes a carpet or a 
bed-quilt of all the scraps which she may happen to have 
on hand. 

As to the physical circumstances of the country, or more 
exact information as to the mines or other matters of that 
character, the reader is referred to the work of Baron 
Humboldt. As to the early history of Mexico nothing can 
be added to the comprehensive and elaborate work of the 
Abbe Clavigero ; and a very full account of the antiquities 
of the country will be found in Mr. Brantz Mayer's book. 

I have mentioned two of the three things in Mexico 



CHAP. XXIII.] CALENDAR STONE. 213 

which are first shown to every foreigner, the Colossal 
Equestrian Statue in bronze of Charles IV. of Spain, and 
the great Sacrificial Stone. I must not slight the third and 
much the most important of the three — Montezuma's Dial as 
it is called, which has been worked into the corner of the 
cathedral. 

It is a large mass of porphyritic stone of ten feet diame- 
ter, and circular shape. In the centre is a human head 
with the tongue hanging out, cut in relief ; around this 
head are five circles of hieroglyphic figures, intended for 
the computation of the different divisions of time in the Cal- 
endar of the ancient Mexicans. Their civil year was 
divided into eighteen months of twenty days each. The 
five intercalary days were added to the last month, 
and the fractions of hours were computed at the end of a 
cycle of fifty-two years. Thirteen years constituted a 
tlalpilli, — four of these a cycle of fifty-two years, which 
were represented by bundles of reeds bound together with 
a string, — two of these cycles of fifty-two years constituted 
another division of a hundred and four years, which was 
called an old age. I do not remember the Mexican term. 
I copy the following extract of a very interesting letter 
upon the subject from the Abbe Hervas to Clavigero : — 

" The Mexican year began on the 26th of February — a day celebrated 
in the era of Nabonassar, which was fixed by the Egyptians 747 years 
before the Christian era — for the beginning of their month Toth, corres- 
ponding with the meridian of the same day. If these priests fixed upon 
this day as an epoch because it was celebrated in Egypt, we have there 
the Mexican calendar agi-eeing with the Egyptian. But independent of 
this, it is certain that the Mexican calendar corresponded greatly with 
the Egyptian. On the 26th day of February of the above mentioned 
year, according to the meridian of Alexandria, which was built three 
centuries after, the year properly began. 



214 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXIII. 

" The year and century have, from time immemorial, been regulated by 
the Mexicans with a degree of intelligence which does not at all cor- 
respond with their arts and sciences. In them they were certainly very 
inferior to the Greeks and Romans, but the discernment which appears 
in their calendar equals them to the most enlightened nations. Hence 
we may imagine that this calendar has not been the discovery of the 
Mexicans, but that they have received it from some more enlightened peo- 
ple, and as the last are not to be found in America, we must seek for 
them elsewhere, in Asia or in Egypt. This circumstance is confirmed 
by your affirmation that the Mexicans had their calendar from the 
Taltecas (originating from Asia), whose year according to Boturini was 
exactly adjusted by the course of the sun — more than a hundred years 
before the Christian era ; — and also from observing that other nations, 
namely, the Chiapanese, made use of the same calendar with the Mexi- 
cans, without any difference but that of their symbols." 

How greatly it is to be desired that some clue may yet 
be found to the Mexican hieroglyphics — how much light 
would thereby be shed not only upon the question whence 
came the settlers of this continent, but also upon the history 
of our race ! The reckless fanaticism of the conquerors left 
no monument of Mexican superstition or history, which it 
was possible for them to destroy, — there is not a vestige 
in the city of Mexico of the architecture of its ancient in- 
habitants. The reader is aware that so obstinate was the 
resistance of the Mexicans in the last and successful siege, 
that Cortes was forced to tear down every house, and that, 
hterally, he won not the great city of the Aztecs, but one 
vast heap of ruins. 

The burial-ground of Santa Maria in Mexico is the most 
beautiful of the kind I have ever seen — and it is really not 
a misapplication of the term beautiful, to apply it to a 
graveyard such as this. It is a space of ground of some 
eight or ten acres, enclosed with a stone wall about fifteen 
feet high and ten thick. This wall serves the double pur- 



CHAP. XXIII.] THE PASEO. 215 

pose of enclosing the ground and as a place to deposit the 
dead. Little niches are made in it large enough to receive 
a coffin, like the pigeon-holes in a desk. 

The whole area is laid off in gravel walks and bordered 
with flowers and shrubbery, and beautiful marble tombs 
all over it. Lamps are always kept burning at night, 
and altogether I have never seen any other last resting- 
place which had so little of gloom about it. 

The lower classes are buried in other places and without 
coffins ; they are carried to the grave on rude litters, but 
the children and women generally on beds made of roses 
and other flowers. 

The wife of General Canalizo died whilst he was Presi- 
dent ad interim, during the absence of Santa Anna. She 
was embalmed and had a pair of glass eyes inserted, and 
lay in state for several days, gorgeously dressed and glit- 
tering in jewels; every one was admitted to the great 
chamber of the palace where the body was exposed. It 
was a most revolting spectacle, and all the more so to 
those who knew the modest, gentle and unostentatious 
character of that very uncommon woman. She seemed 
to be unconscious of the great dignity of the station to 
which her husband had been elevated, and spent her whole 
life in acts of charity and benevolence, and was singularly 
averse to all sorts of ostentation and parade. 

None but Catholics are allowed to be buried in the 
regular burial-grounds, and if buried anywhere else, there 
is no security that the sacredness of the grave of one 
regarded as an infidel will not be molested. To the disgrace 
ofMexico, the rites of sepulture have to be secured to foreign- 
ers, not Catholics, by treaty. Two of the Texians died at 
Puebla Nacional; one of them, to protect his corpse from 
violation, professed the Catholic faith ; the other, a very gal- 



216 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXIIL 

lant and fine young man, Lieut. Sevey, refused to do so. 
It was with great difficulty that his friends could obtain the ' 
privilege of burial for him, which was at last accomplished 
by a bribe of a hundred and fifty dollars to the priest. 

Let us now turn from burials and burying-grounds to a 
very different place — the Paseo, with its glittering throng. 
Until very recently European or American coaches were not 
used. There are a good many there now owned by wealthy 
persons. The duty upon their importation is very high, 
and they sell for twice as much as in the United States, 
and hence are not generally used. The President has a 
very splendid barouche drawn by four American horses, and 
I am ashamed to say driven by an American. I can never 
become reconciled to seeing a native American performing 
the offices of a menial servant — but I felt this the more on 
seeing a foreigner and in a foreign land thus waited on by 
one of my countrymen. I was more than ever thankful 
that I lived in that portion of our country where no man is 
theoretically called a freeman who is not so in fact, in feel- 
ings and in sentiments ; no decent Southern American 
could be induced to drive anybody's coach or clean his 
shoes. I have no doubt that if the liberties of this country 
are ever destroyed that they will perish at the ballot-box ; 
men whose menial occupations degrade them in their own 
self-esteem, and deprive them of the proud consciousness 
of equality, have no right to vote. 

The President of Mexico never leaves his palace but 
with a large escort of cavalry, the King of Prussia walks 
the streets of Berlin unattended ; the one is a despotism, 
the other a republic. But there are few such despotisms 
as the Prussian, and few such republics as the Mexican. 

The Mexican carriages are altogether unique and gro- 
tesque. The distance between the two axletrees is gene- 



CHAP. XXriI.] COSTLY EaUIPAGE. 217 

rally twelve feet ; they have high cross-bars both behind 
and before, to which are attached the leathern traces upon 
which the carriage swings. The enormous size of these 
carriages is made the more striking from the fact that they 
are drawn by two small mules, with a postillion mounted 
on one of them. One part of the harness was new to me, 
which was a leathern bag for the mule's tail. This bag is 
also used when they ride on horseback. 

The dress of the gentlemen when they ride on the Paseo 
is gaudy in the extreme ; nothing is regarded more vulgar 
than to be seen on horseback in a dress coat or any other 
than a roundabout. These are richly embroidered with 
silk or with gold and silver lace, and covered all over with 
buttons. Their cherivalles are equally fine, and generally 
open from the knee down. The dress of the horse is even 
more dashing and infinitely more costly. One thousand 
dollars is by no means an unusual price for a saddle. I 
have seen in a saddler's shop at one time half a dozen sad- 
dles at prices ranging from five hundred to a thousand dol- 
lars. One gentleman in the city has a saddle the cost of 
which exceeded five thousand dollars. The scene exhibited 
every evening on the Paseo is altogether picturesque. 
Three or four thousand persons with gay equipages and 
rich dresses pass and salute each other on the broad road, 
bordered with handsome trees, two beautiful jets cTeau, with 
Chapultepec on one side and the snow-covered mountains 
of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl on the other ; while on 
all sides far around extend the wide plains of the valley. 

The Mexican women generally ride with their feet on 
the right side of the horse, exactly the opposite side from 
that to which we are accustomed. Very frequently they 

ride with a foot on each side — not on the Paseo however. 
11 



218 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXIII. 

Let us now go, as every one does in Mexico, from the 
Paseo to the theatre. 

No people have so great a passion for the stage as the 
Spanish. Much the larger portion of Spanish literature is 
dramatic. There are several theatres in Mexico besides 
the new and magnificent one which I have already de- 
scribed. The " Teatro Principal " was, before the erection 
of the new one, the largest and most fashionably attended. 
The actors were all natives of Mexico, if indeed it is not 
an abuse of the term actors to apply it to such mere recit- 
ers, and by no means good reciters, as they were. 

A company of actors came to Mexico in 1843, and were 
engaged at a small theatre on the outskirts of the city ; but 
their superiority was so very decided to anything of the 
kind to which the Mexicans had been accustomed, that 
they very soon had the theatre crowded. I believe they 
are now playing at the new theatre. They would all have 
been considered good, none of them first-rate performers in 
this country, with one remarkable exception — the Senora 
Coiiette. I have rarely seen her equal in the wide range 
of comic characters which she played. I frequently at- 
tended the theatre to witness her performances, but I 
always left before the afterpiece if she did not play in it, 
and this was not without some risk, as I often walked home 
a distance of half a mile through the unfrequented streets 
of a badly-lighted city — a thing I could not easily have been 
induced to do when I first went to Mexico. 

The bull-fight is the passion the lower classes of 
Mexicans, and very much a passion with all. I have seen 
ten thousand persons assembled on such an occasion. 
I shall not detain the reader with a description. They are 
in nothing different from bull-fights elsewhere, except that 
the horns are sawed off" and the bulls are generally tame 



CHAP. XXIII.] TEMPERATURE. 219 

and spiritless. I do not know whether it resulted from the 
inequality of the contest, the poor beast being thus deprived 
of his only power of defence or attack, but I declare that 
my sympathies were generally with the bull. 

The Hill of Chapultepec and Montezuma's cypress at its 
base, and the fortress on the summit, the evangelistas or 
professional letter- writers, &c., &c., have all been described 
by others. 

The mean temperature of the city is about 58, and the 
range above or below that point but very small. I have 
been in no other country in which the temperature becomes 
so much cooler after sunset, and what is inexplicable to me 
I frequently walked half a mile at mid-day in that tropical 
sun without the slightest perspiration. This, I think, is no 
recommendation but an objection to the cUmate of Mexico, 
and is, I have no doubt, the cause of much disease. The 
rainy season generally commences in the last days of May 
and continues to the first of October, sometimes a little 
later; during that period there is rain every day. Not 
what one would call a rainy spell, but the sun shines 
brightly in the morning and generally until noon or a little 
later, and then pleasant showers, sometimes very heavy 
rains, but never accompanied with violent winds. After 
the rain ceases in October, not another drop falls until the 
last of May. This is the case in the table lands. In the 
region lying between the degrees 25 and 35, on the Pacific 
ocean, this is reversed, and the rainy season occurs there in 
the winter months ; occasionally in January and February 
there is a cool night and sometimes they say there is a little 
frost — I never saw any. The difference, however, between 
the summer and the winter months is scarcely felt ; indeed, 
in the day time, it is a little cooler in the summer from the 
constant rains, but the climate is altogether delicious. In 



220 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXIII. 

one word, I do not believe that there is a country in the 
world for which God has done so much, very few for which 
man has done so little. 

The reader who has followed me through these desultory 
recollections, is, doubtless, able to form a pretty accurate 
opinion of the country, its character, resources, customs, 
and population, without any dissertation of mine. Clavi- 
gero, a man of learning and ability, and himself a Mexican, 
has drawn the character of his countrymen, I think impar- 
tially, and in the main justly ; I subjoin a translation of it, 
putting in italics those portions in which I do not concur. 

" The Mexicans are of good stature, generally exceeding instead of fall- 
ing short of the middle size, and well proportioned in all their limbs. They 
have good complexions, — narrow foreheads, — black eyes, — clean, firm, 
regular, white teeth, — thick, black, coarse, glossy hair, — thin beards, — and 
generally no hair upon their legs or thighs ; their skin is of an olive 
color ; there is scarcely a nation upon earth where there are fewer 
deformed persons — and it would be more difficult to find a single hump- 
backed, lame or squint-eyed man amongst a thousand Mexicans than 
among a hundred of any other nation. The unpleasantness of their 
color, the smallness of their forehead, the thinness of their beard, are so 
far compensated by the regularity and fine proportion of their limbs, that 
they can neither be called very beautiful nor the contrary, but seem to 
hold a middle place between the extremes. Their appearance neither 
engages nor disgusts, but among the young women of Mexico there are 
many very beautiful and fair, whose beauty is at the same time rendered 
more winning by the sweetness of their manner of speaking, and by the 
pleasantness and natural modesty of their whole behavior. 

" They are very moderate in eating, but their passion for liquors is 
carried to the greatest excess. 

" Their minds are, at bottom, in every respect, like those of the other 
children of Adam, and endowed with the same powers, nor did the Euro- 
peans ever do less credit to their own reason than when they doubted that 
of the Americans. The state of civilisation among the Americans when 
they were first known to the Spaniards, which was much superior to that of 
the Spaniards themselves when they were first known to the Phoenicians, 



CHAP. XXIII.] CHARACTER OF THE MEXICANS. * 221 

that of the Gauls when they were first known to the Greeks, or that of 
the Germans and Britons when first known to the Romans, should have 
been sufficient to check such an error of man's mind, if it had not been 
the interest of the inhuman avarice of some ruffians to encourage it. 
Their understandings are fitted for every kind of science, as experience 
has shown. Of the Mexicans who have had opportunities of engaging in 
the pursuit of learning, which is but a small number, as the greater part 
of the people are always engaged in the public or private works, we 
have known some good mathematicians, excellent architects and learned 
divines. Many persons allow the Mexicans to possess a great talent for 
imitation, but deny them the praise of invention, a vulgar error which is 
contradicted by the ancient history of that people. 

" Their minds are affected by the same variety of passions as the 
people of other nations, but not in an equal degree. Mexicans seldom 
exhibit those transpoils of anger or phrenzies of love which are so 
common in other countries ; they are slow in their motions, and show a 
wonderful tenacity and steadiness in those works which require time and 
long continued attention. 

" They are most patient of injury and hardship, and where they sus- 
pect no evil intention, are most grateful for any kindness. But some 
Spaniards who cannot distinguish patience from insensibility, nor dis- 
trust from ingratitude, say proverbially that the Indians are alike insen- 
sible to injuries and to benefits. The habitual distrust which they 
entertain of all who are not of their own nation prompts them often to 
lie and betray, so that good faith has certainly not been so much respect- 
ed amongst them as it deserves to be. 

" They are by nature taciturn, serious, and austere, and show more 
anxiety to punish crimes than to reward virtues. Generosity and per- 
fect disinterestedness are the principal features of their character. Gold, 
with the Mexicans, has not the value which it seems to enjoy elsewhere. 
They give without reluctance what has cost them the utmost labor to 
acquire. The respect paid by children to parents and by the young to 
the old, seem to be feelings born with them. Parents are very fond of 
their children also ; but the afiection which husbands bear to their wives 
is certainly much less than that borne by wives to their husbands, and 
it is very common for the men to love their neighbors' wives better than 
their own. 

" Courage and cowardice seem alternately so to affect their minds that 



222 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXIII. 

it is often difficult to determine which predominates. They meet dan- 
gers with intrepidity when they proceed from natural causes, but they 
are terrified by the stern look of a Spaniard. That stupid indifference 
about death and eternity, which many authors have thought inherent in 
the character of every American, is peculiar only to those who are yet so 
rude and uninformed as to have no idea of a future state. Their singu- 
lar attachment to the external ceremonies of religion is very apt to de- 
generate into superstition, as happens with the ignorant of all nations of 
the world ; but their proneness to idolatry is nothingmore than a chimera 
formed in the brains of ignorant persons. The instances of a few moun- 
taineers are not sufficient to justify an aspersion upon a whole people. 
To conclude : the character of the Mexicans, like that of every other 
nation, is a mixture of good and bad, but the bad may be easily corrected 
by a proper education, as has frequently been demonstrated by experi- 
ence. It would be difficult to find anywhere youth or a body of people 
more willing to receive the light of the Gospel than were their ances- 
tors." 

I will add that the modern Mexicans are not in all re- 
spects like the ancient ; as the Greeks of these days have 
little resemblance to those who lived in the days ofPericles. 
The ancient Mexicans showed more fire and were more 
sensible to impressions of honor. They were more intre- 
pid, more active, more industrious, but they were at the 
same time more superstitious and cruel. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

Adjustment of American Claims— Order for the Expulsion of Americans 
from California Rescinded— Various Negotiations — Anecdote of Santa 
Anna's love of Cock-fighting. 

Of matters connected with the Legation it is not fit that I 
should speak, except of those which have been made pubUo 
by the government. The commission for the adjudication 
of the claims of American citizens against the government 
of Mexico adjourned in February or March, 1842. The 
awards which that commission made in favor of American 
citizens amounted to about two millions of dollars. The 
Mexican government had, by the terms of the convention 
which established that commission, the alternative of pay- 
ino- the awards either in coin or their own treasury notes 
at their option. The market was already flooded with this 
depreciated government paper, and new emissions were 
daily made. The market value of these treasury notes 
was about thirty cents on the dollar, and if this additional 
two millions had been thown on the market, they would 
have depreciated still more ; the owners of these claims knew 
this, and were anxious to make some other arrangement. 
The awards were not sent to me until October. I demand- 
ed the money ; but it was a mere form, for every one 
knew that the government neither had the money nor the 
means of raising it, and coercion was out of the question 
as they would have availed themselves of the alternative 
of the treaty and given the treasury notes, which would 



224 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXIV. 

only have been changing the evidence of the debt, and to a 
less advantageous form. In a week, however, I made a 
new convention with the government, by which the claim- 
ants have received fifteen per cent of the principal of their 
debt, and about nineteen per cent of interest — which is 
twice as much as the market value of the whole of the 
claims when I went to Mexico — which was less than 
twenty cents on the dollar. If I have not been misin- 
formed, one of these claims, and a large one, was sold for 
six cents on the dollar, and many others at the same rate. 
I wrote to some of the claimants in all our large cities, ad- 
vising them not to sacrifice their claims, and I also said the 
same thing to the Secretary of State, and requested him to 
make it public, which I believe he did. 

By the new convention which I negotiated, there was 
saved to the persons interested, from eighteen to twenty per 
cent — the export and transportation duties, eleven per cent 
freight and insurance to Vera Cruz, at least five per cent, in 
that country of highway robbers and revolutions, and two 
and a half per cent for the commissions of the agent who 
received the money. All of these things were altogether 
just, but they had not been provided for in the former con- 
vention — and that which I negotiated was wholly on my 
own responsibility. I thought that it was no more than 
fair that the government of Mexico should pay the com- 
missions of the agent, because if the whole amount of two 
millions had been paid at once, any one would have re- 
ceived and remitted it for one third of the commissions 
which would have been charged when there were twenty 
diflTcrent instalments running through a period of five 
years. If the money had all been paid at one time, a gov- 
ernment vessel would have been ordered to take it to the 
United States without charge. 



CHAP. XXIV.] ADJUSTMENT OP AMERICAN CLAIMS. 225"> 

All the instalments which fell due whilst I remained in. 
Mexico were paid. A small portion of the two last was^ 
not paid until perhaps a month after it was due, and the 
money was immediately sent to Vera Cruz, and shipped! 
from there as soon as it could be counted.* 

There were eighteen claims submitted to the commis- 
sion at Washington, and which were not finally decided ; 
the American commissioners adjudging in all of them, 
about a million of dollars to the claimants, and the Mexi- 
cans allowing nothing. These cases, for want of time, were 
not decided by the umpire, Baron Roene. There were 
seven other cases which were not considered by the com- 
missioners for want of time, and because in one of them 
the Mexican Government did not furnish all the docu- 
mentary evidence which was required. 

I was anxious to have made provision for the settlement 
of these cases at the time that I negotiated the Convention; 
of January, 1843, but my government thought otherwise. 
In November, however, of that year, I received instruc- 
tions to negotiate another Convention for the settlement of 
these claims. I would gladly have avoided the responsibi- 
lity of this second convention if I had looked only to 
personal considerations, but the Mexican government was 
at that time under serious apprehension of a collision with 
England, and I knew that so advantageous an opportunity 
would not again occur. I succeeded, but with difficulty, 
in obtaining every concession which I had been instructed 
to ask, and on some points more, with the single exception 

* The persons interested in these claims are more indebted for the pay- 
ment to Mr. Emilius Voss than any other person. As imputations have 
been made against this gentleman, it is but just to say of him, not only that 
he is an accomplished merchant and an upright man, but that in all high 
and honorable qualities he has no superior in Mexico or anywhere else. 
11* 



226 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXIV. 

of the place of meeting of the new Commission, which I 
agreed should be Mexico instead of Washington. The 
former commission had met at Washington, and it seemed 
to me nothing but fair that this one should meet at Mexico. 
I know of no rule that such commissions shall assemble in 
the country of the claimant.; the legal rule in controversies 
between individuals is the reverse. The forum is in the 
•country of the defendant. But this new commission was not 
alone for the settlement of the claims of American citizens or 
the government of Mexico, but also the claims of Mexican 
citizens upon the government of the United States, so that 
the equities were at least equal ; but the Mexican plenipo- 
tentiaries offered that if I would concede to them the point 
of the commission meeting at Mexico that I might name 
the umpire, to which I at once acceded. I could not see 
any great importance as to the place where the commission 
met, the more especially as nearly all of the seven claims 
which alone were to be submitted to this commission de- 
pended upon documentary evidence entirely, and all these 
■documents were in the pubUc archives of Mexico. And, 
as it was certain that the Mexican and American com- 
missioners would disagree upon all of these claims, I did 
regard it of primary importance who should be the umpire. 
If that umpire had been, as he would have been (if Mexico 
had selected him), some one of the presidents of the South 
American Republics, there never would have been any 
■ controversy as to what vessel should bring the money 
home. I knew of the sympathies as well as the antipathies 
of race, but the Senate of the United States thought other- 
wise, and disapproved of that clause of the convention. I 
think that all the parties interested will have occasion to 
regret that decision ; I am sure that all those will, who are 
interested in the eighteen cases submitted to and not 



CHAP. XXIV.] VARIOUS NEGOTIATIONS. 227 

decided by the umpire under the former commission — for 
those cases were not to be submitted to the new^ commis- 
sion but were to be referred at once to the umpire under 
the new convention, and would long since have been 
settled. 

Near the end of December, 1843, 1 received information 
that the government of Mexico had issued an order in July 
previous expelling all natives of the United States from the 
department of California and the three adjoining depart- 
ments. No attempt however had been made up to that 
time to execute this order. A similar order had been 
issued a few years before, including not only citizens of the 
United States but British subjects also, and this order had 
actually been executed to the great damage, and in some 
instances, ruin, of the persans removed. All the efforts of 
the English and American ministers to procure a rescision 
of this order were ineffectual for six months. I had the 
good fortune, however, after a somewhat angry corres- 
pondence, to have the order rescinded, not, however, until 
I resorted to the " ultima ratio" of diplomacy, and demanded 
my passports — a measure which a Minister is rarely jus- 
tifiable in resorting to without the orders of his govern- 
nient. I confess I was very much afraid that the passports 
would have been sent to me, but I thought that the step, 
extreme as it was, was justified by the circumstances, and 
that it would cut short a very long discussion. The result 
showed that in this calculation I was right. The order 
was rescinded, and expresses forthwith sent to all of the 
four departments, the distance of some of which was two 
thousand miles. 

With all their boasting the Mexicans are more afraid of 
us than of all other powers. They do not care about a 
maritime war, for they have scarcely any ships, either of 



228 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXIV. 

war or commercial vessels, and as to a blockade, they will 
thank any foreign power for one. But they know we can 
approach them by land, and the Texians have given them 
" a taste of our quality." 

I was anxious before I left the legation that the " docket 
should be cleared," and as there were five cases remaining, 
some of them of long standing, I asked an interview with 
the Minister of Foreign Affairs to discuss and settle them. 
I would advise all our future Ministers in that country to 
adopt that course, and never write when they can obtain a 
personal interview. Written discussions with them are as 
endless as the web of Penelope. The habitual procrastina- 
tion and the vanity, of writing make it so, and if the Minis- 
ter of Foreign Affairs happens to be a lawyer, as was Mr. 
Bocanegra, the pleadings never stop short of the sur-rebutter. 
All the members of the cabinet met me to discuss the cases, 
and the result was, that all I asked was conceded to me in 
all of them. I will repeat here what I said in the last note 
which I addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs : 
" that during the whole time of my mission I had made 
but one single demand upon the government which had not 
been conceded ;" and I will venture to say that these de- 
mands were much more numerous, and involving a greater 
variety of nice questions of international law than has 
occurred with any other of our missions for the same pe- 
riod. I claim no credit for this beyond that of a rigid 
adherence to the great principle which governs our inter- 
course with other nations — " to ask nothing but what is 
right, and to submit to nothing that is wrong" — a maxim 
the first part of which should be even more strictly observed 
in our intercourse with weak powers, and still more with 
the weaker powers of this continent. I am not aware that 
any complaint has ever been made that I had refused my 



CHAP. XXIV.] VARIOUS NEGOTIATIONS. 



229 



interposition when asked. There were a few matters in 
which I felt much interest, and which I knew could only be 
arranged with President Santa Anna himself, I therefore 
waited a few days at Jalapa in the neighborhood of which 
place is his beautiful country-seat, " Encerro." The first 
of these objects was the release of the Texians made pri- 
soners at San Antonio, which he granted me, as I have be- 
fore stated. 

An order had been issued for closing the custom house at 
Santa Fe and stopping the inland trade, in which our coun- 
trymen were very much interested. This order had not 
originated in any hostile feelings towards the United States, 
but was issued because General Armigo, the governor of 
that department, kept all the revenues himself and paid 
nothing to the government. Santa Anna promised me that 
the order should be rescinded, and it was done immediately 
afterwards. Another order had been issued a few months 
before, requiring all goods of a certain description which 
had been imported into Mexico, and which were not sold 
by a stipulated time, to be reshipped, or that they should be 
forfeited to the government. This order he also consented 
should be rescinded or satisfactorily modified— which was 
done. 

Another, and a very important one to many Americans 
in Mexico, was that which prohibited the privilege of the 
retail trade to all foreigners,— all my efforts to procure a 
rescision of this order were ineffectual, and this is the one 
exception to which I have alluded. One of the members 
of the diplomatic corps, the French Minister, had felt it his 
duty to write a note on the subject, which Santa Anna re- 
garded as very harsh in its terms and spirit. After I had 
discussed the matter with him for some time he said. " I know 
nothing about these questions of international law, I am 



230 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. XXIV. 

only a soldier, and have spent my life in the camp — but 
eminent Mexican lawyers tell me that we have the right to 
enforce such an order, and if we have I know that it will 
be beneficial to Mexico. These foreigners come here and 
make fortunes and go away ; let them marry here, or 
become Mexican citizens, and they may enjoy this and all 
other privileges." He added that if all the other ministers 
had taken the same course that I had, that he might have 
consented to rescind the order, but that whilst he was the 
President he would cut his throat (suiting the action to the 
word with great vehemence) before he would yield any- 
thing to insult or menaces — alluding to the note of the 
French Minister. He became very much excited, and 
with his fine eye flashing fire, went on in a strain of real 
eloquence. " What," said he, " has Mexico gained by her 
revolution, if she is thus to be dictated to by every despot 
in Europe ; before, we had but one master — but if this is 
permitted we shall have twenty. We cannot fight on the 
water ; but let them land, and I will drive them to their 
boats a little faster than I did in 1839" — and then casting 
his eye to his mutilated leg, with that tiger expression 
which Mrs. Calderon noticed — he said, " they have taken 
one of my legs, they shall have the other, and every limb 
of my body before I will submit to their bullying and 
menaces. Let them come, let them come as soon as they 
please, and in every defile of these mountains they will 
find a Thermopylae." 

These were his very words. If he did not feel what he 
said, I have never seen the hero and patriot better acted. 
Again I thought of General Jackson. The reader may be 
assured that whatever may be the faults of Santa Anna, he 
has many points which mark him " as not in the roll of 
common men." 



CHAP. XXIV.] SANTA ANNA's LOVE OF COCK-FIGHTING. 231 

When I first visited him at Encerro, he was examining 
his chicken cocks, having a large main then depending — 
he went round the coops and examined every fowl, and 
gave directions as to his feed ; some to have a little more, 
others to be stinted. There was one of very great beauty, of 
the color of the partridge, only with the feathers tipped with 
black, instead of yellow or white ; and the male in all re- 
spects like the female, except in size. He asked me if we had 
any such in this country, and when I told him that we had 
not, he said that if that one gained his fight he would send 
him to me, — he was the only one of fifteen which did not 
lose his fight ; and shortly after my return, when I visited 
New York, I found the fowl there. I had thought no more 
about it, and had no idea that he would. 

After examining his chicken cocks we returned to the 
house, and then he was all the President — and to have 
listened to the eloquent conversation which I have sketched, 
one would not have supposed that he had ever witnessed a 
cock-fight. 

The taste for this amusement, which amongst us is re- 
garded as barbarous and vulgar, is in Mexico by no means 
peculiar to Santa Anna. It is universal, and stands scarcely 
second to the bull-fight. 



CHAPTER XTV. 

The California Question — Captain Suter's Settlement — Value of the Coun- 
try — Importance to the United States — English Influence in Mexico- 
Annexation of Mexican Provinces to the United States — Present Rela- 
tions. 

I CONFESS that in taking the high ground which I did upon 
the order expeUing our people from California, that I felt 
some compunctious visitings, for I had been informed that 
a plot had been arranged and was about being developed 
by the Americans and other foreigners in that department 
to re-enact the scenes of Texas. I had been consulted 
whether in the event of a revolution in California, and its suc- 
cessful result in a separation from Mexico, our government 
would consent to surrender their claims to Oregon, and that 
Oregon and California should constitute an independent 
republic. I of course had no authority to answer the ques- 
tion, and I would not have done so if I could. 

The inhabitants of California are for the most part 
Indians, a large proportion naked savages, who not only 
have no sympathies with Mexico but the most decided 
antipathy. 

Mexico has no troops there, and the distance of the 
department prevents any being sent. 

Captain Suter, who was one of Buonaparte's officers, and, 
I believe, is a Swiss, has for many years had an establish- 
ment there, and is the real sovereign of the country if any 
one is, certainly so de facto if not de jure. The govern- 



CHAP. XXV.] VALUE OP THE COUNTRY. 233 

ment of Mexico has done none of these things, such as set- 
tlement, extending her laws, and affording protection, 
which alone give to a civilized people a right to the coun- 
try of a savage one. As to all these, the natives of Califor- 
nia are as much indebted to any other nation as to Mex- 
ico ; they only know the government of Mexico by the 
exactions and tribute which are levied upon them — it is 
literally a waif, and belongs to the first occupant. Captain 
Suter has two forts in California, and about two thousand 
persons, natives and Europeans, in his employment, all of 
them armed and regularly drilled. I have no doubt that 
his force would be more than a match for any Mexican 
force which will ever be sent against him. He has once or 
twice been ordered to deliver up his forts, and his laconic 
reply has been, " Come and take them." 

From all the information which I have received, and I 
have been inquisitive upon the subject, I am well satisfied 
that there is not on this Continent any country of the same 
extent as little desirable as Oregon, nor any in the w^orld 
which combines as many advantages as California. With 
the exception of the valley of the Wallamette, there is 
scarcely any portion of Oregon which is inhabitable 
except for that most worthless of all — a hunting popula- 
tion — and the valley of the Wallamette is of very small 
extent. In the south the only port is at the Columbia river, 
and that is no port at all, as the loss of the Peacock, and 
others of our vessels, has proven. To say nothing of other 
harbors in California, that of San Francisco is capacious 
enough for the navies of the world, and its shores are 
covered with enough timber (a species of the live oak) to 
build those navies. If man were to ask of God a climate, 
he would ask just such an one as that of California, if he had 
ever been there. There is no portion of our western coun- 



234 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. XXV. 

try which produces all the grains as well ; I have been 
told by more than one person on whom I entirely relied, 
that they had known whole fields to produce — a quantity 
so incredible that I will not state it. The whole face of 
the country is covered with the jfinest oats growing wild ; 
sugar, rice, and cotton find there their own congenial cli- 
mate. Besides all these, the richest mines of gold and sil- 
ver have been discovered there, and the pearl fisheries have 
always been sources of the largest profits ; and more than 
these, there are the markets of India and China with nothing 
intervening but the calm and stormless Pacific ocean. 

The distance from the head of navigation on the Arkan- 
sas and Red rivers to a navigable point of the waters of 
the Gulf of California is not more than five or six hundred 
miles ; let that distance be overcome by a railroad, and 
what a vista is opened to the prosperity and power of our 
country, I have no doubt that the time will come when 
New Orleans will be the greatest city in the world. That 
period would be incalculably hastened by the measures 
which I have indicated, which would throw into her lap 
the vast commerce of China and of India. Great Britain, 
with that wise and far-seeing policy for which she is more 
remarkable than any other government, has already the 
practical possession of most of the ports of the Pacific 
Ocean — New Zealand and the Sandwich Islands, and very 
soon the Society Islands also. We have a commerce in 
that ocean of more than fifty millions of dollars, and not a 
single place of refuge for our ships. 

I will not say what is our policy in regard to California. 
Perhaps it is that it remain in the hands of a weak power 
like Mexico, and that all the maritime powers may have 
the advantage of its ports. But one thing I will say, that 



CHAP. XXV.] ENGLISH INFLUENCE IN MEXICO. 235 

it will be worth a war of twenty years to prevent England 
acquii'ing it, which I have the best reasons for believing she 
desires to do, and just as good reasons for believing that she 
will not do if it costs a war with this country. It is, per- 
haps, too remote from us to become a member of the Union. 
It is yet doubtful whether the increase of our territory will 
have a federal or a centralizing tendency. If the latter, we 
have too much territory ; and I am by no means sure that 
another sister Republic there, with the same language, 
liberty and laws, will not, upon the whole, be the best for 
us. If united in one government, the extremities may be 
so remote as not to I'eceive a proper heat from the centre — 
so, at least, thought Mr. Jefferson, who was inspired on politi- 
cal questions if mortal man ever was. I am not one of those 
who have a rabid craving for more territory ; on the contrary, 
I believe that we have enough. I know of no great people 
who have not been ci'owded into a small space — the Egyp- 
tians, the Romans, the Greeks, and another people who 
have exercised a greater influence upon man and his des- 
tiny than all others, the Jews ; and, in our own time, the 
English. I want no more territory, for we have already 
too much. If I were to make an exception to this remark, 
it would be to acquire California. But I should grieve to 
see that country pass into the hands of England, or any 
other of the great powers. 

Whenever the foreigners in California make the move- 
ment of separation, it must succeed. The department of 
Sonora, not half the distance from Mexico, has been in a 
state of revolt for the last four years, and the government 
has been unable to suppress it. The civil war there has 
been marked by acts of horrible atrocity, which are al- 
most without precedent in any country. It is true that 
they do not eat the flesh of their enemies, but they leave 



236 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. [cHAP. XXV. 

them hanging on the. trees to feast the birds of prey. 
There is scarcely a road in the whole department where 
such spectacles are not daily exhibited. 

There is a great mistake, I think, in the opinion which is 
general in this country of the great ascendency of English 
influence in Mexico. It is true that Mr. Pakenham had 
much influence there, which his great worth and frank and 
honorable character will give him anywhere ; but my 
opinion is, that the general feeling of the Mexicans towards 
the English is unfriendly. They have a well-grounded 
jealousy of the great and increasing power which their 
large capital gives them ; and, if the feelings of the Mexi- 
can people were consulted, or the opinions of their most 
enlightened men, England is the very last power to which 
the Mexicans would transfer California, or any other portion 
of their territory. I am quite sure that they would prefer 
that it should be an independent power, than to have any 
connection or dependence of any sort upon England. The 
most valuable of the Mexican mines are owned and worked 
by English companies, and at least two-thirds of the specie 
which is exported goes into the hands of the English. The 
British Government keeps two officers, or agents, in 
Mexico, with high salaries, to attend to this interest alone. 
It is with the money thus derived that the English establish- 
ments on this continent and in the West Indies are sup- 
ported. 

The amount of the specie annually obtained from 
Mexico is more than half as great as that which is kept at 
one time in the Bank of England. The stoppage of this 
supply would very much derange the whole monetary sys- 
tem of England ; on this account, it is to be apprehended 
that in the event of a war between the United States and 
Mexico, that England would very soon be involved in it. 



CHAP. XXV.] ANNEXATION.. 237 

If the coast of Mexico should be blockaded, England will 
demand that the line of steam-packets to Vera Cruz should 
be exempted from its operations. These packets, although 
commercial vessels, possess a sort of quasi-government 
character. This, of course, our government could not con- 
cede ; and the interruption of the regular supply of the pre- 
cious metals from Mexico would be most disastrously felt in 
England. Knowing all this, I was well satisfied that all that 
we have heard about England stimulating Mexico to de- 
clare war against this country was ridiculously absurd. 
Such a war would injure England more than either of the 
belligerents. All her interests are opposed to it, unless, 
indeed, she intended to participate in that war. I have the 
best reasons for saying, that there is no other power in the 
world with which England would not prefer to engage in a 
war ; not that she fears us, for England fears no nation, nor 
combination of nations, as all her history proves ; but such 
a war would be, more than any other, disastrous to her com- 
mercial, manufacturing, and all other industrial pursuits. 

England has no single motive for a war with us. It is 
not of this country that she is jealous, but of the northern 
despotism of Europe, and mainly of Russia, and has been 
so since the seizure of the fortress of Aczaco, in 1788. And 
well may England and all Europe tremble under the shadow 
of that terrible military despotism now holding one-eighth 
of the territory of the globe, and continually extending its 
limits and its power. All the wars of the present century 
which have weakened other European powers have result- 
ed in the aggrandizement of Russia. The government is 
not only a despotism, but essentially a military despotism. 
The studies in which her people are educated are princi- 
pally those of war and diplomacy. Russia and the United 
States are antipodes and antagonists. The wise and far- 



238 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXV. 

seeing statesmen of England see this and calculate, as well 
they may, upon our sympathy, in a conflict with Russia. 
I repeat, England wants no war with us, although we may 
force her into one. " That old and haughty nation proud 
in arms " will never submit to injustice or insult.* But to 
return from this perhaps uncalled-for digression to the 
jealousy of England which is felt in Mexico. 

A leading member of the Mexican cabinet once said to 
me that he believed that the tendency of things was to- 
wards the annexation of Texas to the United States, and 
that he greatly preferred that result either to the separate 
independence of Texas or any connection or dependence 
of Texas upon England ; that if Texas was an independent 
power, other departments of Mexico would unite with it 
either voluntarily or by conquest, and that if there was any 
connection between Texas and England, that Enghsh manu- 
factures and merchandise would be smuggled into Mexico 
through Texas to the utter ruin of the Mexican manufac- 
tures and revenue. 

In one of my last interviews with Santa Anna I men- 
tioned this conversation. He said with great vehemence, 
that he " would war for ever for the reconquest of Texas, 
and that if he died in his senses his last words should be an 
exhortation to his countrymen never to abandon the effort 
to reconquer the country ;" and added, "You, Sir, know 
very well that to sign a treaty for the alienation of Texas 
would be the same thing as signing the death-warrant of 

* Our worst enemy among the sovereigns of Europe is Louis Philippe, 
the catspaw-king. Ever^ ^ -^le struggling to be free look to the United 
States for light and aid, and it should be a source of pride to us that 
every despot regards us with fear and hatred. Well may the treacherous 
citizen-king exclaim with reference to America, with the fallen archangel 
to the sun — 

" How ! oh sun, I hate thy beams." 



CHAP. XXV.] PRESENT RELATIONS. 239 

Mexico," and went on to say that " by the same process we 
would take one after the other of the Mexican provinces until 
we had them all." I could not, in sincerity, say that I thought 
otherwise ; but I do not know that the annexation of Texas 
will hasten that event. That our language and laws are 
destined to pervade this continent, I regard as more certain 
than any other event which is in the future. Our race has 
never yet put its foot upon a soil which it has not only not 
kept but has advanced. I mean not our English ancestors 
only, but that great Teuton race from which we have both 
descended. 

There seems to be a wonderful adaptation of the English 
people to the purpose of colonization. The English colony 
of convicts at New South Wales is a more prosperous 
community than any colony of any other country. That 
the Indian race of Mexico must recede before us, is quite as 
certain as that that is the destiny of our own Indians, 
who in a military point of view, if in no other, are supe- 
rior to them. I do not know what feelings towards us in 
Mexico may have been produced by rcc^ut events, but 
whatever they may be, they will not last long ; and I be- 
lieve that the time is not at all distant, when all the 
northern departments of Mexico, within a hundred miles 
of the city, will gladly take refuge under our more stable 
institutions from the constant succession of civil wars to 
which that country seems to be destined. The feeling is 
becoming a pretty general one amongst the enlightened 
and patriotic, that they are not prepared for free institu- 
tions, and are incapable themselves of maintaining them. 
There is very great danger that the drama may close 
there, as it has so often done in other countries, with 
anarchy ending in despotism, — such is the natural swing of 
the pendulum. The feeling of all Mexicans towards us, 



240 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. [cHAP. XXV. 

until the revolution in Texas, v^as one of unmixed admira- 
tion ; and it is oar high position amongst the nations, 
and makes our mission all the more responsible, that every 
people, struggling to be free, regard us with the same feel- 
ings — we are indeed the " looking-glass in which they 
dress themselves." As a philanthropist, I have deeply de- 
plored the effects of the annexation of Texas upon the feel- 
ings of the people of all classes in Mexico, towards this 
country, as diminishing their devotion to republican insti- 
tutions ; this should not be so, but it will be. Ours is 
regarded as the great exemplar Republic in Mexico, as 
everywhere else, and the act which they regard as such an 
outrage, must have the prejudicial effect which I have indi- 
cated — still more will that effect be to be deprecated, if it 
should throw Mexico into the arms of any great European 
power. 

The northern departments of Mexico contain all the 
mines, and more of the wealth of the country than any 
others ; and they all hang very loosely to the confederacy ; 
— they receive no earthly benefit from the central govern- 
ment, which in truth they only know in its exactions. All 
the money collected from them is expended in the city and 
elsewhere, and they have not even the satisfaction of 
knowing that it is beneficially or even honestly used. The 
security which would be given to property, as well as its 
great enhancement in value, would be powerful induce- 
ments with all the owners of large estates which are now 
comparatively valueless. The only obstacle that I know 
of to such a consummation, infinitely desirable in my judg- 
ment, to the peopl-e of those departments, less so to us, 
would be in the influence of the priesthood. They are 
w^ell aware that such a measure might very soon be fatal, 
not only to their own supremacy, but that of the Catholic 



CHAP. XXV.] PRESENT RELATIONS. 24l! 

religion also, — but they would have on the other hand a 
powerful motive in the security which it would give them; 
to their large church property— no motive but interest 
would have any influence with the people of Mexico, for 
they certainly do not like us. Their feelings towards 
us may be summed up in two words, jealousy and admiration, 
—they are not going to declare war against us, I have 
never doubted for a moment about that. Public opinion in 
Mexico, to all practical purposes, means the opinion of the 
army, and the very last thing in the world which' the army 
desires, is such a war, — nor do I believe that one Mexican- 
in a thousand does, however they may vaunt and bluster- 
just as a frightened school-boy whistles as he passes ai 
graveyard in the night. I have just as little idea that they 
will negotiate now, or until matters are adjusted between, 
England and this country. I doubt whether they will do. 
so even then, for the government of Mexico owes our citi- 
zens as much money as they could expect to get from us 
for their quit-claim to Texas, and Mexico, therefore, will, 
have no motive to negotiate as long as she is not pressed 
for these claims ; and the restoration of official intercourse 
is not of the slightest consequence to her. The few Mexi- 
cans who would come here, would be in no danger of being 
oppressed, and nothing would be more convenient to 
Mexico than that we should have no minister there to 
trouble the government with complaints. 



CONCLUSION. 



Whilst I was engaged in writing the last chapter, I 
ireceived through the newspapers the intelligence of ano- 
ither revolution in Mexico. Machiavelli remarks of the 
Republic of Florence at one period of its history, that a 
ire volution every five years was a necessary part of the 
-system. Without a radical reform, revolutions in Mexico 
must unavoidably occur at much shorter periods. 

Another profound remark of the same great man, whose 
character presented the strange paradox of the apologist 
and the instructor of tyrants, whilst his life was a martyr- 
dom to liberty, is "that every revolution contains the seeds 
of'another and scatters them behind it." In Mexico, these 
^seeds have been sown broadcast over the land, and sprout 
spontaneously. Whoever may be at the head of the gov- 
►ernraent, and however wisely and honestly it is adminis- 
tered, there can be no well grounded hope that revolutions 
will not be constantly repeated without many and radic*l 
reforms. Such administrations there have been in Mexico, 
'but I have great fears that they are not likely to occur 
again : whatever may be the checks and guarantees pro- 
vided in the constitution, those in power are practically 
under no restraint, — and how pure soever the feelings and 
purposes with which they enter into office, the temptations 



CONCLUSION. 243 

are too many and too powerful to be easily resisted; 
but, as things now are, there are difficulties which no 
degree of virtue or talents can surmount. It is not possible 
to raise a sufficient revenue to support such an army, church 
establishment, and civil list, with a population so poor, so 
indolent and unproductive. The experiment of establish- 
ing free institutions upon a permanent basis in Mexico, is 
full of difficulties, — they may yet be overcome, but the task 
is a herculean one. The population consists of ignorant 
Indians, debased by three centuries of worse than colonial 
vassalage, and the Spanish oppressors of these Indians ; and 
it is hard to say which condition — that of the oppressors or 
the oppressed — most disqualifies for a just appreciation of 
the great principles of civil liberty, and a firm and reso- 
lute purpose to establish free institutions. No people has 
ever established or long maintained a free government 
without an enthusiasm, a romantic and self-sacrificing en- 
thusiasm in the cause of liberty, that Greek feeling by 
which men were taught that they were born for their coun- 
try. There is more of this feeling in Mexico than is gene- 
rally supposed, and more than might be expected consider- 
ing the demoralizing influences to which the country has so 
long been subjected, the greatest of which has been the 
constant succession of revolutions ; but I greatly fear . that 
this feeling is not often to be found in high places. 

General Paredes is now at the head of the government 
That he is brave and patriotic I have never heard denied ; 
but his whole life has been spent in the camp, and he must 
be deficient in many of the qualities which are demanded 
by his present responsible position. He must want the 
necessary reading and information to lay the foundations 
of a government wisely adapted to the peculiar circum- 
stances and condition of Mexico, and, besides this, he has 



244 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

always been suspected of a strong leaning towards monar- 
chy as the form of government best suited to his country- 
men. He has, however, passed a portion of his life in this 
country, where he must have learned something both of 
the theory and practical workings of free institutions ; may 
he profit by the information thus acquired, and use it for 
the good of his country, — his mission is a high one, and I 
hope that he may execute it worthily. It. was beyond 
doubt in the power oflturbide to have established a repub- 
lican government in Mexico, which would have been perma- 
nent. Deep and lasting is the execration which he deserves 
for not having done it ; let General Paredes profit by his 
example. If he would hearken to the counsel of one who 
sincerely desires the welfare of Mexico, and who enter- 
tains for him individually feelings of kindness and respect, 
I would advise him to call around him men of known and 
unquestionable probity and patriotism, qualities much 
more important than high talents. Such men there are in 
Mexico. Gomez Farrias, Pedraza, Bustamente, Almonte, 
if called to the administration, would give assurance to 
every one that its purposes were pure and patriotic. Let 
him not inquire into past political opinions or party divi- 
sions, the present crisis is one of too portentous importance 
to think of such things for a single moment ; let the army 
be immediately reduced to not more than five thousand 
men, — the privates would rejoice to be reileased from a ser- 
vice into which they were carried by force, and let the 
officers be disbanded and made to go to work of some sort, 
and for the first insurrectionary word or act let them be gar- 
roted, not shot, that would be too good for them. The army 
of the Vice-Regal government did not exceed ten thousand 
men ; can it be that a despotism is less a government of 
force than a Republic? If the army was thus reduced and 



CONCLUSION. 245 

other reforms made, the bm-den would not be so heavy as 
to require that the laws should be enforced by the bayo- 
net, or else the experiment of a republic might as well be 
abandoned at once. 

If there is anything true in the science of political econo- 
my — if any proposition not mathematical is susceptible of 
demonstration, it is that the productive labor and resources 
of Mexico are inadequate to the maintenance of such an 
army, civil list, and church establishment. And with the 
Mexican people the only panacea for evils of all sorts is a 
new revolution. Without this and other reforms, nothing 
is more certain than another revolution before two years, 
probably before one, and those now in power will be hurled 
from their places. All the civil wars of the Roman empire 
after the time of Julius Caesar, originated with the generals 
of the army. This must be so in Mexico, and even in a 
greater degree from the inherent and constitutional tenden- 
cy of the Spanish race to civil wars. But for those wars 
Spain would have been at this day the most extensive and 
powerful empire in the world. The army of Mexico has 
never done anything else than to make revolutions. There 
is no single good which it has accomplished. What use 
has Mexico for a standing army ? No foreign power will 
ever invade her. There is no motive, not even that of 
plunder, to do so, for they are so impoverished that they have 
nothing but the wealth of their churches, and surely no 
civilized enemy would take that. They have fears that we 
will assail them. I believe that those fears are groundless, 
but if they are not, what earthly resistance could Mexico 
offer ? A feeble woman and a strong man armed would 
inadequately express the inequality of such a contest. Her 
impotency and helplessness are her best protection. They 
talk as they have done for years of invading Texas. No 



246 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

such thing was attempted before the annexation of Texas 
to this country ; and an invasion now only excites a smile 
whenever it is spoken of. Not one man of sense in Mexico 
either desires or anticipates such a thing. The real cause of 
the last revolution was not, as was professed, because the 
government of Herrera was opposed to invading Texas, but 
because Paredes very much preferred to such an invasion 
to return to Mexico and achieve a much easier and more 
bloodless triumph over his own government. So it will 
always be — an army may commence the march, but long 
before it arrives on the frontier of Texas there will be a 
new pronunciamento, and it will return and overthrow the 
government ; for three months is quite long enough.to make 
any administration unpopular. We shall then have another 
series of patriotic proclamations and high-sounding pro- 
mises to reconquer the revolted province, as it is still called. 
General Paredes has just returned from the Texas frontier, 
and no one- knows better than he does that it would be im- 
possible to induce a Mexican army of fifty thousand men to 
cross the line, and if they did and there were ten thousand 
Americans there to meet them, not a Mexican would escape 
except as a deserter. 

There is another and equally indispensable reform which 
I have little hope will be made — the curtailment of the 
revenues and the power of the priesthood, and the free 
toleration of all religions. Without this I have no hope 
whatever for the country. When Charles I. of England 
visited Spain he said that he had never liked the Catholic 
religion, but that he had never detested it until he had 
visited a Catholic country. I do not choose to say that, 
but I will say that the prevalence of that religion to the 
exclusion of all others, and the power of the priesthood as 
it exists in Mexico, are, in my judgment, incompatible with 



CONCLUSION. 247 

a Republican form of government. Wherever such a state 
of things exists, there is a power behind the throne greater 
than the throne. The more ignorant the people, the greater 
is this power, and hence the opposition of the Catholic 
priesthood in other countries than Mexico to the diffusion 
of knowledge. I have not visited any other Catholic coun- 
try, but in Mexico the subjection of fortune, mind and body 
to an ignorant and licentious priesthood, is a crying and a 
burning shame. But to say nothing of anything else, the 
impositions levied by the church, in one form or other, are 
more than the country can bear. It may be that no ad- 
ministration will be strong enough to cope with the power 
of the priesthood. It is said that Santa Anna tried it and 
was forced to yield. If this be so, they might as well 
abandon at once all hope of free institutions. The two 
things cannot exist together ; they never have, and they 
never will. 

The impression is a very general one, and is daily grow- 
ing more so, that the Mexican people are not prepared for 
a republican form of government. It will be seen, howevei', 
that by their very complex plan of elections, the right of 
suffrage is very much restricted, giving to the government 
a somewhat aristocratic character, — this in a great mea- 
sure removes the objection. The better classes of Mexi- 
cans are generally intelligent, and I think as patriotic as 
the people of most other countries. Their revolutionary 
history abounds with characters and incidents of disin- 
terestedness and virtue altogether romantic. They possess 
many of the elements of a great people, and it is our pecu- 
liar and high duty to assist in their development — a duty 
enforced ahke by philanthropy and by poUcy. But it must 
be confessed that the mass of the population are very much 
unenlightened. 



248 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. 

Nowhere is there greater enthusiasm for the mere words 
" liberty and repubhc," of the true meaning of which they 
have very little conception. In the language of Milton's 
withering denunciation of his own countrymen — 

" They bawl for freedom in their senseless mood, 
And still revolt when truth would set them free — 
Licence they mean when they cry liberty, 
For who loves that must first be wise and good — 
But from that mark how far they rove we see, 
For all this waste of wealth and loss of blood." 

But it has been the apology of tyrants and usurpers in all 
times, that the people were not capable of governing them- 
selves — indeed, it is said that no people are. If the people 
of Mexico are not now prepared for a republican govern- 
ment, when will they be ? If a European Prince should be 
in mercy sent them, or some military chieftain of their own 
should again usurp supreme power, will they then be taught 
the great principles of civil liberty and the rights of man, 
so that at some future day they will be prepared to receive 
free institutions ? I borrow from an elegant writer* the 
best reply to all such arguments. 

" Till men have been for some time free, they know not how to use 
their freedom. The natives of wine countries are always sober. In 
climates where wine is a rarity, intemperance abounds. A newly 
liberated people may be compared to a northern army encamped on the 
Rhine or the Xeres. It is said, that when soldiers, in such a situation, 
first find themselves able to indulge without restraint in such a rare and 
expensive luxury, nothing is to be seen but intoxication. Soon, how- 
ever, plenty teaches discretion ; and after wine has been for a few 
months their daily fare, they become more temperate than they had ever 
been in their own country. In the same manner the final and perma- 
nent fruits of liberty are wisdom, moderation, and mercy. Its immediate 

* Macaulay. 



CONCLUSION. 249 

effects are often atrocious crime, conflicting errors, scepticism on points 
the most clear, dogmatism on points the most mysterious. It is just at 
this crisis that its enemies love to exhibit it — they pull down the 
scaffolding from the half finished edifice ; they point to the flying dust, 
the falling bricks, the comfortless rooms, the frightful irregularity of the 
whole appearance ; and then ask in scorn, where the promised splendor 
and comfort are to be found ? If such miserable sophisms were to pre- 
vail, there would never be a good house or government in the world. 

" Ariosto tells a pretty story of a fairy, who, by some mysterious law of 
her nature, was condemned to appear at certain seasons in the form of a 
foul and poisonous snake, — those who injured her during the period of 
her disguise were for ever excluded from participation in the blessings 
which she bestowed. But to those who, in spite of her loathsome 
aspect, pitied and protected her, she afterwards revealed herself in the 
beautiful celestial form which was natural to her, accompanied their 
steps, granted all their wishes, filled their houses with wealth, made 
them happy in love, and victorious in war, — such a spirit is liberty. At 
times she takes the form of a hateful reptile — she grovels, she hisses, 
she stings, — but wo to those who in disgust shall venture to crush her ! 
And happy are those who, having dared to receive her in her degraded, 
frightful shape, shall at length be rewarded by her in the time of her 
beauty and her glory. 

" There is only one cure for the evils which newly acquired freedom 
produces — and that cure is freedom ! When a prisoner leaves his cell, 
he cannot bear the light of day — he is unable to discriminate colors, or 
recognize faces, — but the remedy is not to remand him into his dun- 
geon, but to accustom him to the rays of the sun. The blaze of truth 
and liberty may at first dazzle and bewilder nations which have become 
half blind in the house of bondage — but let them gaze on, and they will 
soon be able to bear it. In a few years men learn to reason — the ex- 
treme violence of opinion subsides ; hostile theories correct each other ; 
the scattered elements of truth cease to conflict, and begin to coalesce ; — 
at length a system of justice and order is educed out of the chaos. 

" Many politicians of our time are in the habit of laying it down as a 

self-evident proposition, that no people ought to be free till they are fit to 

use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story 

who resolved not to go into the water till he had learnt to swim ! If 

13* 



250 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

men are to wait for liberty, till they become wise and good in slavery, 
they may indeed wait for ever." 

It is entirely true that it is not by keeping men in dark 
rooms that they are taught to discriminate colors, and it is 
equally true that to expose suddenly to a bright light those 
who have long been kept in darkness, is apt to destroy 
the vision for ever ; so those who have long been kept in 
the darkness of despotism should receive the light of free- 
dom cautiously and gradually. I have already expressed 
the opinion that Mexico is not now prepared for institutions 
as free as ours, but it by no means follows that she must be 
consigned to hopeless despotism. It has been suggested, 
and is even talked of in Mexico, that the only salvation 
for the country is that a monarchy should be established 
there, and some European prince placed upon the throne. 
Better that the seven phials of the Apocalypse should be 
poured out upon that devoted country. Such a measure 
would involve the extermination of the Mexican people, 
more particularly, if, as has been suggested, that prince 
should be one of the sons of Louis Philippe. No united peo- 
ple can be conquered, and upon such an issue as that, there 
would be little division of opinion, and never has there 
existed a race of more unyielding obstinacy and indomi- 
table fortitude than either the Spanish or the Mexican. 
The three sieges in history which have grown into proverbs 
for the heroic fortitude with which they were character- 
ized, Numantia, Saguntum, and Saragossa, were all in 
Spain, — and the siege of Mexico,, more remarkable than 
either, attests the constancy and fortitude of the Mexicans. 
A much more probable result is the successful usurp- 
ation of some military chieftain of their own, but he must 
be a man of high qualities. It may be that the different 



CONCLUSION. 251 

departments may slough off, and each form for a time a 
separate government, a sort of San Marino, but not like 
San Marino secure in its virtues from the contempt or 
aggression of more powerful neighbors. Th^' destiny of 
Mexico is in her ow^n hands ; the present state of things 
cannot last much longer, no people can long endure such 
misrule, tumult, and anarchy. There must be a change ; 
the present forms may continue for a time, but it wUl only 
be a lingering agony. The path of liberty is thorny and 
steep, not w^ithout much toil and many trials, has any 
people obtained the summit to which it leads ; that Mexico 
may do so, I sincerely hope, although it would almost seem 
to be hoping against hope. I can only say, and I do so in all 
sincerity and truth; — may God send her a safe deliverance! 



APPENDIX. 



TRANSLATIONS FROM THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF 
NEW SPAIN BY EERNAL DIAZ. 

What the Marquis del Valle did after his return to Castile. 

As his Majesty had now returned to Castile, from an expedition to chastise 
the city of Ghent, he raised a large army to attack Algiers, and the Marquis 
del Valle went to serve in it, and took with him his son and heir, and 
also his son Don Martin Cortes by Donna Marina, and a large retinue of 
esquires, servants, and horses. He embarked in a handsome galley with 
Don Henrique Henriques : but it pleased God to raise so violent a storm 
that nearly the whole royal armada was lost. The galley in which Cortes 
sailed was also sunk. But he escaped with his children and the gentlemen 
who accompanied him, but not without great risk of their lives — although 
at such moments there is no time for reflection, when death was staring 
them in the face, many of the servants of Cortes said that they saw him 
bind around his arm some small bundles containing very precious stones 
which, being a great lord, he had carried with him — and not because he 
had any use for them. When he reached the shore in safety, he found 
that he had lost all these valuable jewels, which were worth many dollars 
in gold. 

All of the Captains and Masters of the Camp who constituted the royal 
council advised his Majesty to abandon the siege of Algiers, and sail for 
Bexia — since they saw that our Lord had been pleased to raise such a 
storm that they could do no more than they had done. Cortes was not 
summoned to this council, nor was his opinion asked. But when he was 
informed of it, he said that if his Majesty were pleased to entrust the 
matter to him, that — with the aid of God — the good fortune of our Caesar, 



APPENDIX. 253 

and the soldiers which they then had — he would take Algiers. He then 
uttered many praises of his captains and soldiers who had been with him 
in the conquest of Mexico — " that we were the men to endure hunger and 
fatigues ; and, although wounded and toil-worn, to march wherever we 
• were ordered, perform heroic achievements, and storm every city and 
fortress, although at the imminent peril of our lives." When many of the 
gentlemen of the expedition heard this, they said to his Majesty that it 
would have been better to have invited Cortes to the council, and that it 
was a great mistake not to have done so— others said that the reason that 
the Marquis was not invited to the council was, that they knew that his 
opinion would be opposed to raising the siege ; and that, at such a moment 
of imminent peril, there was no time for councils, except as to the means 
of placing in safety his Majesty and the gentlemen of his retinue, who 
were in the greatest danger ; and that they might afterwards return and 
renew the siege of Algiers : — and so they departed for Buxia. 

Let us now leave this subject, and speak of the return to Castile from 
this toilsome expedition. 

The Marquis was weary of remaining in Castile and attending upon the 
court : and on his return from Buxia being very much broken down by the 
toils of the expedition — was greatly desirous of returning to New Spain, 
if he could obtain permission to do so. He had sent to Mexico for his 
oldest daughter. Donna Maria Cortes, whom he had contracted in marriage 
to Don Alvaro Perez Osorio, the heir of the marquis of Astorga, and had 
promised her as a marriage portion more than a hundred thousand ducats 
in gold, besides a large amount in jewels and other articles ; and he went 
to Seville to receive her. 

The marriage was broken off, as many gentlemen said, from the fault of 
Don Alvaro Perez Osorio — which so much enraged the Marquis as to 
bring on a fever, accompanied with dysentery — and, as he daily grew 
worse, he determined to leave Seville, to relieve himself from the impor- 
tunities of those who had business with him, and he retired to the town 
of Castilleja de la Cuesta, for the purpose of attending to his soul, and 
making his will : which, when he had done, and received the holy sacra- 
ment, our Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to remove him from this trouble- 
some world. He died on the 2d of December, in the year 1547. His body 
was carried with great pomp and a large procession of the clergy, and gen- 
tlemen in mourning, and buried in the chapel of the Dukes of Medina Si- 
donia. His bones were afterwards carried to New Spain, and were, ac- 
cording to the directions of his will, deposited in a sepulchre in Cuyoacan 
or Tezcuco, I am not certain which. I will now state what I think his age 
was, from facts which I will state. The year in which we sailed from Cuba 



254 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

for New Spain was that of 1519. He then frequently said in conversation 
with us, his companions of the expedition, that he was thirty-four years 
old ; to which add twenty-eight more, until he died, and it makes sixty- 
two. 

The legitimate children which he left were — Don Martin Cortes, the 
present Marquis ; Donna Maria Cortes, who, I have before said, was con- 
tracted in marriage to Don Alvaro Perez Osorio, the heir of the Mar- 
quisate of Astorga, and who afterwards married the Count Luna de Leon ; 
Donna Juanna, who married Don Hernando Henriques, the heir of the 
Marquisate of Tariffa ; Donna Catalina Arillano, who died in Seville. These 
all came to Castile with their mother, the Marchioness Donna JoanaZu- 
niga, accompanied by her brother, the friar Don Antonio de Zuniga. 

There was another daughter, who was in Mexico — Donna Leonor Cortes, 
— who married one Juanes de Tolosa, a Biscaiynian, who was worth more 
than a hundred thousand dollars, besides rich silver mines. The young 
marquis was much enraged at this marriage when he arrived in New 
Spain. He had also two illegitimate sons. Don Martin Cortes, whose 
mother was Donna Marina, and who was a knight of the Order of Santiago, 
and Luis Cortes, also a knight of Santiago, and whose mother was Dona 
Hermosilla. He left also three illegitimate daughters ; one by an Indian 
woman of Cuba, and the others by Mexican women. He gave to these 
illegitimate daughters handsome dowries ; for in their infancy he gave 
them some valuable Indian villages called Chinanta. 

As to the provisions of his will I cannot speak positively, but I am sure 
that they were wise and proper, for he had ample time for that purpose, and 
as he was then an old man I do not doubt that it was done wisely. To relieve 
his conscience he ordered a hospital to be built in Mexico, and a monastery 
in his Town of Cuyoacan, which is two leagues from Mexico, and that his 
bones should be carried to New Spain. He left ample funds to carry into 
execution all the provisions of his will which were many and good, and 
such as became a good Christian, all of which I do not enumerate, both to 
avoid prolixity and because I do not remember them all. The motto and 
blazon on his arms were those of a very valiant gentleman and expressive 
of his heroic actions, but as they were in Latin, and I do not understand 
the Latin language, I shall not attempt to give them. The heads of seven 
captive kings were engraved on his escutcheon, and as I understand it, 
these seven captive Kings were Montezuma the great lord of Mexico, 
Cacamatqui, the nephew of Montezuma, and the great lord of Tezcuco, 
Coadlavaca the lord of Iztapalapa and other villages, the lord of Tacuba, 
the lord of Cuyoacan, and another great Cacique of two provinces called 
Tulapa which were adjoining Matalcuigo. This last, it was said, was the 



APPENDIX. 255 

son of a sister of Montezuma, and a very near heir to the throne of Mexico. 
The last of these kings was Guatemuz, who defended his provinces and 
city when we conquered them. These were the seven Caciques which 
were engraved upon his arms and escutcheon, for I do not remember 
any other kings who were at any time prisoners, as I have stated in former 
chapters. I will now pass on and describe the person and disposition of 
Cortes. He was of good person and stature, well proportioned and muscu- 
lar ; the color of his face was somewhat of an ashy paleness, and not very 
pleasant to look upon. If his face had been somewhat longer it would 
have been better ; the expression of his eyes was at times amorous, at other 
times grave ; his beard thin, brown and stiff; his hair the same ; his breast 
full, and his shoulders well formed ; he was thin and had a small stomach ; 
a little bow-legged, with well shaped legs and thighs. He was a fine 
horseman, and was dexterous in the use of all kinds of arms, both on foot 
and on horseback, but above all he had the heart and spirit which is of most 
importance. I have heard it said, that when a young man in the island 
of Hispaniola, he was somewhat irregular in his amours, and that he was 
sometimes engaged in duels with dexterous swordsmen, in all of which he 
was victorious ; he had the scar of a swordcut on his under lip, which 
he had received in some of these rencontres, which upon close examina- 
tion could be seen, but he kept it covered with his beard. In his pre- 
sence, movements, conversation, eating, dress, in everything he showed 
the great lord. 

His clothes were of the fashion of the time, he cared nothing for silks 
nor damasks nor satins, but always dressed neatly and plainly ; neither did 
he wear large chains of gold, but a small one of gold of the finest work- 
manship with a small medallion attached to it, on one side of which was 
an image of our lady the holy Virgin Mary with her precious Son in her 
arms, and an inscription in Latin, — on the other side an image of Saint 
John the Baptist, with another Latin inscription under it ; he also wore on 
his finger a costly diamond ring. On his cap, which according to the 
fashion of the time was of velvet, he wore another medallion, I do not 
remember what face was engraved upon it, nor the inscription. Later in 
life he wore a plain cap without the medallion. 

The furniture of his house, his retinue and servants, were those of a great 
lord ; with major-domos, pages, &c., and many large vessels of silver and 
of gold. He ate heartily at the middle of the day, and drank a half-pint glass 
of wine and water ; the only other meal which he took was supper. He 
cared nothing for delicate or costly dishes, except on occasions when such 
things were necessary, and then he did not regard the cost of them. 
He was always very affable with all the captains and soldiers, especially 



256 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

with those of us who first sailed with him from Cuba. He was a good 
Latin scholar, and I have heard it said that he was a Bachelor of Laws, 
and whenever he conversed with learned men and Latin scholars the con- 
versation was always in Latin. He was something of a poet, and sometimes 
wrote couplets ; his conversation was agreeable and very polished ; he 
prayed every morning and heard mass with devotion, he had for his advo- 
cate and intercessor our lady the Virgin Mary, as every good Christian 
should have ; he also had for his saints, St. Peter, St. James, and St. John 
the Baptist. He was very charitable ; whenever he swore he would say, " on 
my conscience ;" when he was angry with any of our soldiers he would say, 
" oh ! may you repent of this ;" when very much excited, the veins of his 
neck and forehead would swell, and he would, sometimes, when greatly 
enraged, throw off his mantle, but he was never known to utter an injuri- 
ous or offensive word to any captain or soldier. He was extremely patient 
and forbearing, which he had great occasion to be, for the soldiers would 
often say inconsiderately most offensive things, but he never replied with 
harshness or u^kindness ; the most that he would say, was, " Be silent, or 
go in God's name, but for the future have a care what you say or it will 
cost you dear, for I will punish you." 

He was very obstinate, especially in all military matters ; for he persist- 
ed in all the ill-advised combats into which he led us, when we made the 
excursion in the lake to reconnoitre Mexico ; and in the battles of 
Pinoles, which are to this day called the pinoles of the Marquis, notwith- 
standing all the counsel and advice which we gave him to the contrary. 
We all advised him against attempting to ascend to the fortress on the top 
of those Pinoles (craggy mountains), but that we should surround them, 
and not expose Us to the large rocks which they would hurl over the sides 
of the mountain upon us, and against which we could not defend ourselves, 
and that to attempt it would expose us all to almost certain destruction ; 
but he persisted in his own course against the opinions of us all. We had 
to commence the ascent, and great was the danger to which we were ex- 
posed. Ten or twelve of our soldiers were killed, and all of us more or 
less bruised and wounded, without accomplishing anything until other 
counsels were adopted. And then again : in the expedition to Honduras, 
when Christoval de Ali revolted with the armada under his command, I 
more than once advised that we should take the route through the moun- 
tains, but he persisted in taking that along the coast. In this he was again 
mistaken ; for that which I recommended passed the whole way through 
an inhabited country. This will be understood by every one who has 
passed through that country. From Guagacualco the road is plain and 
direct to Chiapas, thence to Guatemala, and from Guatemala to Naco, 



APPENDIX. 2517 

I 

Where Christoval de Ali then was. But I will say no more on that sub- 
ject. When we first arrived at Villa Rica, and commenced building the 
fortress, the first man who struck a spade in the ground to lay the founda- 
tion was Cortes, and in all our battles he was in the midst of us. The 
first which I will here mention were the battles in Tabasco, where he 
commanded the cavalry and fought bravely. I have already stated how he 
labored in constructing the fortress in Villa Rica. And then his sinking 
the thirteen vessels— which was done by the advice of our valiant captains 
and brave soldiers, and not as Gomara relates it. In the three battles with 
the Tlascalans he showed himself an able and valiant captain. And again : 
our entry into the city of Mexico with only four hundred soldiers, is; 
worthy of admiration ; and the audacity of seizing Montezuma in his palace,, 
surrounded as he was by so many of his guards, which was also done by 
the advice of all our captains and soldiers. Another thing which should 
not be forgotten was the burning before the palace of Montezuma some of 
his captains who were concerned in the killing of our captain, Juan Esca- 
iande, and seven soldiers. I do not remember the names of these Mexican, 
captains, but it is a matter of no consequence. And what an act of daring 
courage was it to march against Pamphilo Narvaez, the captain sent by 
Diego Velasquez, with thirteen hundred men, ninety of them cavalry, and 
as many more armed with muskets, when we had only two hundred and 
sixty-six men without horses, muskets, or cross-bows, and no other wea- 
pons than pikes, swords, and daggers, and by all the arts and stratagems of 
war we defeated Narvaez and made him prisoner. I will pass on to our- 
second entry into the city of Mexico, when we went to the relief of Pedro- 
Alvarado, when we ascended into the lofty temple of their idol, Huichilo- 
bos. There again Cortes showed himself a most valiant man ; but neither 
his prowess nor our own availed us anything. Then again: in the very 
celebrated battle of Atumba, where all the flower of the bravest Mexican, 
warriors were awaiting us with the hope of destroying us all, when Cortes- 
attacked the standard-bearer of Guatemuz and forced him to lower his ban- 
ner, and thereby struck down the spirit of the Mexican squadrons which 
had been fighting most valiantly. In this, next to God, he received the 
most important aid from our brave captains Pedro Alvarado, Gonzalas de 
Sandoval, Christoval de Ali, Diego de Ardas, and Andres de Tapia. There 
were other brave soldiers, but as they had no horses, I do not name them. 
Some of the soldiers of Narvaez also did us good service. He who killed 
the Mexican standard-bearer was Juan de Salamanca, a native of Ontive- 
ros, and he took from him a rich plume, which he gave to Cortes. I will 
pass on to the battle of Iztapalapa, in which Cortes was engaged with us, 
and where also he bore himself like an able captain. And then again at 



258 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

Suchimelico, where the Mexican squadrons pulled him from his horse, and 
he was rescued by some of our Tlascalan friends, but more than all by our 
hrave soldier, Christoval de Olea, a native of old Castile. Let the reader 
take notice there was one named Christoval de Ali, but this was Christoval 
■de Olea. I mention this that it may not be said by any one that I have 
"made a mistake. Cortes also showed himself a very brave man in eur 
■second siege of Mexico when the Mexicans defeated him on the narrow 
'Causeway, and carried off and sacrificed sixty-two of our soldiers, and had 
■wounded Cortes in the leg, and had him in their clutches, and were car- 
Tying him also to the sacrifice, when it pleased God that by his own strength 
■and good fighting, and the timely aid of this same Christoval de Olea, who 
'had before rescued him at Suchimelico, Cortes was enabled to mount his 
horse, and his life was again saved.* But the brave Olea was himself left 
dead on the causeway ; and even now while I am writing, my heart melts 
at the remembrance of him, and it seems to me that I see him with his no- 
ble presence and great soul, just as when he so often aided us in battle, and 
it makes me sad, for he was a native of my own country, and the kinsman 
of my kinsmen. 

I shall mention no more of the heroic actions of our Marquis Del Valle, 
for they were so numerous that I should not soon come to an end in relat- 
ing them. I will now speak of his temper and disposition. He was very 
fond of games at cards and dice, and when he was engaged in such games 
he was very affable and pleasant, and would indulge in jests and pleasant- 
ries, as is usual with those who game. He was extremely vigilant in 
all our campaigns during the conquest, and would often go the rounds at 
night and challenge the sentinels, and would go into the quarters of the 
isoldiers, and if he found any of them sleeping with their armor or sandals 
ofT, he would reprimand them, saying " that it was a mean sheep that felt 
the weight of its own wool." 

When we went to Honduras I observed one thing which I had never 
■noticed before, which was, that after he had eaten, if he did not sleep a 
short time he became sick at the stomach. To avoid this we placed an 
awning under a tree or some other shade, and however hot the sun might 
be shining, or hard it might be raining, he would take a short sleep and 
then resume the march. During the wars of the conquest he was very thin 
and had a small stomach, but after his return from Honduras he became 
quite fat. I noticed also that his beard was again brown, although before 
it had been somewhat grey. I would notice also that he was extremely 

* The only liberty which I have taken with the original, is to transfer to this paragraph 
one line which occurs a few pages afterwards. In all other respects the translation is 
literal and exact. 



APPENDIX. 259 

liberal in the expenditure of money until his second retui'n from Castile, 
in the year 1540, but that after that he was considered parsimonious. He 
had a law-suit with one of his servants whose name was UUoa, because he 
refused to pay him his wages. And we may observe that after he had 
completed the conquest of New Spain he had many troubles and difficul- 
ties, and expended much money in the expeditions which he undertook 
He did not succeed either in his expedition to California, nor in that to 
Hiqueras,nor in anything else after he finished the conquest of the country, 
perhaps because his rewards were reserved for him in heaven, and such I 
believe was the case, for he was a worthy gentleman, and very much de- 
voted to the Virgin and to St. Peter and all the other saints. May God 
pardon him his sins and me mine, and grant me a happy end, which is of 
more importance than all our conquests and victories over the Indians. 

How they had concerted a plan in this city of Cholula to destroy us all by the orders of 
Montezuma ; and what was done in the matter. 

Althotjgh we had been received with all the solemnity and good-will which 
I have described, it afterwards appeared that Montezuma had sent orders to 
his ambassadors who were there with us, to make arrangements with the 
Cholulans, that in conjunction with a squadron of twenty thousand men 
which he had sent, that they should make war upon us, and that they should 
attack us by day and by night, and that they should send as many of us as 
they could tied to Mexico. He also sent them many presents of clothes and 
jewels, and a drum of gold. He also promised the Papas (priests) of that 
city, that they should have twenty of us to sacrifice to their idols. Every- 
thing was thus arranged, and the warriors whom Montezuma sent had ar- 
rived, and were quartered in some small houses about half a league from the 
city of Cholula ; others were concealed in the houses in the city, all prepared 
with arms in their hands. They had also erected breastworks on the azoteas 
(roofs of the houses), and had dug ditches across the streets to obstruct the 
passage of our horses. Some of the houses were even filled with large 
rods, to scourge us with, and collars and cords made of dressed skins with 
which to tie us, and take us to Mexico ; but our Lord God was pleased to 
order things better, and all their calculations were reversed. 

We were all in our quarters, as I have before stated ; and, although they 
furnished us with abundance of excellent provisions, and seemed to be 
altogether friendly, we did not omit any of those precautions which it had 
always been our good custom to observe. The third day they brought us 
nothing to eat, nor did any of the caciques or papas make their appear- 
ance ; and if any of the Indians came to see us, they kept at a distance, and 
would not approach near to us, and were laughing as at some jest. When 



260 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

our captain saw this, he directed our interpreters, Donna Marina and 
Aguilar, to tell the ambassadors of Montezuma to order the caciques to 
bring us something to eat. All that they brought us was wood and water, 
and the old men who brought them said that they had no maize. Tkey 
also stated that other ambassadors from Montezuma had that day aiTived, 
and joined those who were already there ; and they said, without any con- 
cealment or respect for us whatever, that Montezuma had ordered that we 
should not go to his city, for he had nothing for us to eat, and that they 
desired to return immediately to Mexico with our answer. 

Although this conversation was not agreeable to Cortes, he replied in 
bland words to the ambassadors, and said, that he wondered greatly that so 
great a lord as Montezuma should adopt so many different resolutions, 
and begged that they would not return until the next day, for that he then 
intended to go and see him, and would do whatever he ordered. And it 
seems to me that he also gave them some strands of beads. The ambassa- 
dors said that they would wait. Our captain then ordered us to assemble, 
and said to us — " These people seem to be very much excited, and it 
behooves us to be very much on the alert, or some evil will befall us." He 
then sent for the principal cacique, whose name I do not remember, or that 
he should send him some of the head men of the city. He replied, that he 
was sick, and could not come, and that he would not send the others. 
Our captain seeing this, ordered that we should induce, by kind words, 
two of the papas to come to him, many of whom were then assembled in 
an idol temple near to our quarters ; we brought two of them without 
offering them any disrespect whatever. Cortes ordered that a chalchihui 
stone, very much like emeralds, and held in great estimation amongst 
them, should be given to each of them, and asked them, in the kindest 
manner — " Why it was that the caciques and papas were frightened at his 
sending for them, and had refused to come to him." As it appeared, one 
of these papas was a very distinguished person amongst them, and had 
power and authority in nearly all the idol temples of that city — something 
like a bishop amongst them — and was held in great reverence by them. 
He replied that the papas had no fears of us, and that he would go and see 
the caciques and head men, and that, after he had talked to them, he did 
not doubt that they would come. Cortes told him to go at once, and that 
his companion should remain until he returned. The papa went and 
summoned the cacique and head men, and they immediately came with him 
to the quarters of Cortes. 

He then asked them, through our interpreters. Donna Marina and 
Aguilar, what had caused their fears, and why they had not brought 
us the usual supplies of provisions; and told them that if they were 



APPENDIX. 261 

displeased with our remaining in their city, that we would depart the 
next morning for Mexico, to see and converse with their Lord Montezuma, 
and that they must have temames (porters) ready to carry our haggage and 
cannon, but that they must immediately bring us something to eat. The 
cacique was so confused that he did not know what to say. He said, that 
as to food, they would seek for it, but that their Lord Montezuma had 
ordered them not to supply us with any, nor to allow us to advance any 
farther. Whilst engaged in this conversation, three friendly Indians of 
Cempoal said privately to Cortes, that they had discovered near our quar- 
ters some ditches cut across the street, and so covered over with wood and 
earth, that they could not be seen but upon close examination ; that they 
had removed the earth from the top of one of these ditches, and found it 
full of stakes with very sharp points, for the purpose of killing our horses 
as they attempted to cross them ; and that on the azoteas they had con- 
structed a kind of breastwork of clay, and had large supplies of stones also 
All of which was certainly well arranged. 

At this moment eight of our Tlascalan friends, who had not been allow- 
ed to enter the city of Cholula, came to Cortes and said, " Look you 
Malinche, there is something wrong going on in this city, for we know 
that they have this night sacrificed, to the God of war, seven persons, 
five of them children, that he may give them the victory over you, — we 
have also noticed that they have removed all their property, and their 
women and children out of the city." As soon as Cortes heard this, he 
ordered them to go forthwith to their Tlascalan captains and tell them to 
be prepared and ready at a moment's warning, whenever he should send 
for them. He then turned to the Caciques and Papas and told them to 
have no fears, nor be in any degree disturbed ; that they should obey and 
not break their faith with him, and that if they did he would chastise 
them ; that he had already told them that we desired to depart in the 
morning, and that he required that they should supply him with two 
thousand warriors as the Tlascalans had done. They replied that they 
would supply him both with the warriors which he required, and the 
Tamemes to carry his baggage and cannon ; and asked permission to go 
and make the necessary preparations ; and were very happy when they 
left us, for they calculated that with the warriors whom they were to sup- 
ply us, and the squadrons which Montezuma had sent, and which were 
(hen waiting outside of the city, that not one of us could escape alive, by 
reason of the ditches across the streets over which the horses could not 
pass, and the breastworks and other defences which they had erected. 
They directed their Mexican allies to be well prepared, for that we were 
to depart the next day with two thousand warriors which they were to 



262 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

supply U9, and that as we carelessly pursued our march that they could 
seize upon their prey and tie us ; that of this they were certain, for that 
they had sacrificed to their idols who had promised them the victory over 
us. 

Let us leave them in this security and return to our Captain, who 
was anxious to ascertain all the particulars of the plot and what was going 
on. He told Donna Marina to take two more Chalchihuis to the two 
Papas with whom he had before conversed, and in kind words to say to 
them that Malinche desired to converse with them again, and that she 
should bring them with her. Donna Marina went and spoke to them in that 
manner which she so well knew how to do, and gave them the presents ; 
they returned with her immediately. Cortes told them to tell him truly 
everything that they knew, that they were priests of idols and chiefs in 
the city, and that it did not become them to lie, and that whatever they 
might communicate to him, should on no account be disclosed, that we 
should leave their city the next day, — he also promised to give them a 
large quantity of clothes. They then told Cortes that the truth was, that 
their Lord Montezuma knew that we were going to his city ; that he every 
day formed different resolutions, and that his mind was still in doubt what 
to do ; that sometimes he would order them, that if we came there to re- 
ceive and treat us with gi-eat honor, and that we should proceed to his 
city. At other times he would send to say to them that it was not his will 
that we should go to his city, and that now the last advice which he had re- 
ceived from his idols, Tezcatepuca and Huichilobos, which he regards 
with great devotion, was to kill us all there in Cholula, or carry us tied 
to Mexico ; that he had the day before sent twenty thousand warriors, one 
half of whom were already in the city, and the other half near there sta- 
tioned in some ravines ; that they were already advised of our departure 
the next day, and the defences which had been constructed in the city, 
and the two thousand Cholulan warrioi-s that were to accompany us, and 
of the agreement which had been entered into ; that twenty of us were to 
be left to be sacrificed to the idols of Cholula. Upon hearing all this, 
Cortes gave them mantas finely worked, and besought them to speak of 
what had passed to no one, and that if they did, on our return from Mexi- 
co we would kill them ; that he desired to leave Cholula very early in the 
morning, and requested that they would bring all the chiefs to talk with 
him. 

That night Cortes called a council to determine on the course to be pur- 
sued, for he had many wise men and prudent councillors ; and, as in like 
cases it often happens, some advised that we should change our route and 
go by Guaxacingo ; others said that we should endeavor to preserve peace 



APPENDIX. 263 

by all possible means, and that we should return to Tlascala ; others of us 
gave as our opinions that if we allowed such treacheries as this to pass 
without punishment, that wherever we went we might expect the same, 
or even worse ; and that as we were then quartered in'that large city with 
an abundant supply of provisions, that we should make the war there, as 
they would feel it more severely in their houses than in the country ad- 
joining, and that we should immediately summon the Tlascalans to enter 
the city. All at length came into this last opinion, and it was arranged in 
this manner : Cortes had already told them that we were to depart the next 
morning, and we pretended to be packing up our baggage, which was little 
enough, and that we should fall upon the Indian warriors in some large 
patios (court-yards) surrounded by high walls which were in our quarters, 
which they well deserved, and that we should dissemble with the am- 
bassadors of Montezuma and tell them that those wicked Cholulans had 
endeavored to make us believe that the treachery which they were about 
to practise upon us was by the orders of Montezuma and themselves, his 
ambassadors, which we did not believe, and we besought them to remain 
in the quarters of our Captain, and that they should hold no farther con- 
versation with the people of that city, and thus give us no reason to sus- 
pect that they were acting in concert with the Cholulans in their treach- 
erous scheme, and that they might go with us as guides. 

They said that neither they nor their Lord Montezuma knew anything 
of the matters which we had stated; and, although they objected to it, we 
placed guards over them, so that they should not go out without permission. 
We did not desire that Montezuma should know that we were aware that he 
had himself ordered these things. That night we were all armed and pre- 
pared at all points — the horses saddled and bridled, with large guards posted, 
and the officers frequently going the rounds. This was always our custom, 
but we felt certain that that night the Cholulans, as well as the Mexican 
squadrons, would be upon us. An old Indian woman, who was the wife of a 
cacique, and who was informed of the plot which had been laid for our 
destruction, came privately to Donna Marina, and seeing that she was 
young, handsome, and rich, she advised her to go with her to her house, if 
she would escape with her life, for that most certainly we would all be 
killed that night, or the next day, for so it had been ordered and arranged 
by the great Montezuma ; that the Mexicans and the people of that city had 
united for that purpose, and all of us who were not killed were to be tied 
and taken to Mexico ; and that, knowing this, and from the commiseration 
which she felt for Donna Marina, she had come to give her the informa- 
tion, and that she must get whatever she had and go with her to her 
house, and that she would then marry her to her son, the brother of an- 



264 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

other boy which the old woman brought with her. Donna Marina, who 
was wary and sagacious in everything, said to her — " Oh, my mother ! 
how much I thank you for what you have told me. I would go this 
moment, but I have no one whom I can trust to carry my mantas and jewels 
of gold, which are of great value. Wait a short time, you and your son, 
and this very night we will go ; for you see that these Teules are now 
watching us." 

The old woman believed what she said, and remained conversing with 
her. Donna Marina asked in what manner we were all to be killed, and 
how and when the plot was formed. The old woman told her, and it was 
neither more nor less than what the two Papas had said before. Donna 
Marina asked the old woman how it was that she had obtained her infor- 
mation, as the plot had been so secretly arranged. The old woman said 
that her husband, who was one of the captains in the city, had told her, 
and that he was now engaged in rallying his men to join the Mexicans in 
the ravines outside the city ; and that she believed that they were then 
assembled, awaiting our approach. She said that she had been informed 
of the plot three days before, when they had sent to her husband a gilded 
drum, and to the commanders of three other companies rich mantas and 
jewels of gold, to induce them to deliver us all to their lord, the great 
Montezuma. 

When Donna Marina heard all this, she dissembled with the old woman 
and said, " Oh, how I am rejoiced to hear that your son, to whom I am to be 
married, is one of the head men of the city. We have been talking to- 
gether a long time and I do not wish that they should suspect us, and 
therefore, mother, wait here a little while and I will begin to bring my 
baggage, for I cannot bring it all at once, and you and your son and my 
brother can guard it, and then we will go." The old woman believed all 
this, and she and her son seated themselves quietly. Donna Marina went 
in all haste to Cortes, and told him all that had passed between herself and 
the old Indian woman. Cortes immediately ordered that she should be 
brought to him, and interrogated her as to all the particulars of the plot, 
when she told him the same story, neither more nor less than what the 
Papas had told him. He ordered a guard to be placed over her. When 
morning came it was a sight worth seeing, the haste and bustle of the 
Caciques and Papas in collecting their warriors, their smiles and happi- 
ness, as if they already had us in the net and snare, which they had pre- 
pared for us. They brought more Indian warriors than we had asked for, 
so many that the large patios in our quarters could not contain them all, 
very large as they were ; and they have been preserved to this day in 



APPENDIX. 



265 



memory of the past. Although it was very early in the morning when these 
Cholulan warriors arrived at our quarters, we Were prepared at all points 
for the work we had to do. The soldiers who were armed with sword and 
shield, were placed at the entrance of the patio, so that not a single In- 
dian, who was armed, should be allowed to escape. Our Captain was 
mounted on his horse, as were several of our soldiers who acted as his 
guard. When he saw that the Caciques and Papas had come so early in 
the morning with their warriors, he said, " how impatient these traitors 
are to see us in the ravines and to feed upon our flesh, but our Lord will 
order things better !" He then inquired for the two Papas who had dis- 
closed the plot, and they told him they were at the door of the patio with 
some other Caciques, who desired to enter. He then ordered Aguilar, our 
interpreter, to tell them to return to their houses as he had no use for them 
at that time. This he did because they had done a good work for us, and 
he did not desire that they should suffer for it, but that their lives might 
be saved. Cortes was mounted on his horse and Donna Marina by his side. 
He then addressed the Caciques and Papas, asked them why it was that 
having given them no offence, they had meditated to have killed us all the 
night before .' What had we done or said to them to induce them to com- 
mit this treachery ? We had only admonished them as we had done the 
people of all the towns through which we had passed, not to be wicked, 
nor sacrifice men, nor adore idols, nor eat human flesh, nor commit unna- 
tural crimes, but to live virtuously, and had explained to them the things 
touching our holy faith ; and all this without, in anything, having oppressed 
them. He asked them why they had prepared so many scourges and col- 
lars and cords, which were deposited in a house near one of their idol 
temples ; and why, within the last three days, they had constructed so 
many defences upon their azoteas, and dug so many pits and ditches in the 
streets ; and why they had sent their women and children and property, 
out of the city; what good had they promised themselves from this 
treachery, all of which they had not been able to conceal from him. 
That they had not even supplied him with provisions, but had brought 
him water and wood in mockery, saying that they had no maize ; that he 
very well knew that they had their warriors concealed in some ravines near 
by, expecting that we would pass that way on our route to Mexico, and 
that they were there awaiting us to execute the treachery which they had 
planned ; that in recompense for our having come amongst them as brothers, 
and told them what our Lord God and our king had commanded us, that 
they desired to kill us and eat our flesh, and had already prepared their 
pots and salt, pepper and tomatoes ; that if they had desired this, that it 
would have been better to have made war upon us like good and brave 
13 



266 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

warriors in the field, as their neighbors the Tlascalans had done ; that he 
knew very well all that had been done in their city, and that they had even 
promised to their idol, the God of war, that twenty of us should be sacri- 
ficed to him ; and that three nights before that time they had sacrificed 
seven Indians to this idol, that he might give them the victory over us ; 
that he was a wicked and false idol, and had no power against us ; and that 
all their wickedness and treacheries would in the end fall upon their own 
heads. All this he said to Donna Marina, who made them understand it 
perfectly. When they heard all this the Caciques and Papas and captains 
said, that it was all true, but that the fault was not theirs, for they had 
been ordered to do what they had done by the ambassadors of Montezuma, 
who had been so commanded by their master. Cortes told them the royal 
laws required that such treasons should be punished, and that for this, 
their crime, they had to die, and he immediately ordered a musket to be 
fired, which was the signal which we had agreed upon for that purpose, 
and we gave them a lesson which they will remember for ever, for we 
killed many of them, others were burnt alive, to show them that their false 
idols could do nothing for them. 

It was not two hours before our Tlascalan friends arrived whom we had 
left in the fields outside of the city ; they fought very bravely in the streets 
where others of the Cholulans attempted to prevent their entrance, whom 
they very soon defeated, and went through the city robbing and making pri- 
soners of all whom they met. The next day other companies of the Tlas- 
calans arrived, and did them much injury, for they were very hostile to the 
Cholulans. When Cortes and the rest of the captains and soldiers saw 
this, out of commiseration for them he restrained the Tlascalans from 
committing any other outrages upon them ; Cortes ordered Pedro Alvarado 
and Christoval de Oli to bring all the Tlascalans to him — and they made 
no delay in coming — when he ordered the captains to get all their men 
together and to return to their quarters outside of the city and to remain 
there, which they did, leaving none with us but our friends of Cempoal. 
At this moment there came to us certain Caciques and Papas of Cholula, 
who belonged to different departments of the city, and who said that they 
had not been concerned in the plot — and it may have been so, as it was a 
very large city — and they besought Cortes that he would pardon them as 
the traitors had paid for their crime with their lives ; then came the two 
Papas our friends, who had discovered the secret to us, and the old woman 
the wife of the captain, and who desired to be the step-mother of Donna 
Mai-ina (which I have before related), and besought Cortes that he would 
pardon them. Cortes seemed very much enraged, and ordered that the 
ambassadors of Montezuma should be sent for, he who had been detained 



APPENDIX. 267 

in our quarters, and said that although the whole city deserved to be des- 
troyed, and that all of them should forfeit their lives, yet out of respect for 
their lord, Montezuma, whose vassals they were, he pardoned them, but 
that for the future their conduct must be good, and that if another thing 
like the past happened they should all die for it. He then sent for the 
Tlascalans, and ordered them to release all their prisoners, for that the 
Cholulans had already been sufficiently punished. The Tlascalans were 
very unwilling to do so, for they said that the Cholulans deserved much 
more at their hands for the many injuries and treacheries which they had 
committed against them, but they obeyed the order. The Tlascalans 
were now rich in the booty which they had acquired in gold and mantas, 
cotton, salt, and slaves. 

Besides this, Cortes brought about a peace and friendship between the 
Tlascalans and Cholulans, which, as I have heard, has never since been 
broken. He also commanded the Caciques and Papas that their people 
should return to their city, and again open their shops and markets, and 
that they need have no fears, as he then had no resentments against them. 
They replied, that in five days their people should return to their houses. 
They were at that time in great terror, and said that they were afraid that 
Cortes would nominate another Cacique, as he who had formerly been Ca- 
cique was engaged in the treacherous plot, and was killed in the patio. 
He asked them to whom the office descended, and they answered, to one 
of the brothers of the former Cacique ; and he immediately appointed him 
until he should order otherwise. 

Besides this, after they had returned to the city and felt secure, he sum- 
moned the Caciques, Papas, captains, and head men, and explained to them 
the things touching our holy faith, and told them that they must cease to 
worship idols ; that they must no more sacrifice human beings, nor eat their 
flesh, nor rob one another, nor commit any other of the wickednesses which 
they were accustomed to do ; and that they should consider that their idols 
had deceived them ; that they were wicked and false, and did not speak the 
truth ; and to remember the lies which they had told them only five days 
before, when they had sacrificed to them five human victims, and they had 
promised them the victory over us ; and that everything which they said, 
either to their Papas or to themselves, was wicked and false ; and he be- 
sought them to pull them down and break them to pieces, and that if they 
did not wish to do it, that we would ; and that they must make something 
like an altar, and we would place a cross upon it. They made the place 
for the cross, and said that they would remove their idols, but delayed doing 
it, although frequently ordered to do so. The Father Olmedo, of tho 
Order of Mercy, said that it was of little consequence to pull down their idols 



268 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

until they were better instructed, and until we saw what would be the 
result of our entry into Mexico, and that time would tell us what we 
ought to do ; but that for the present, the admonitions which he had given 
them, and putting up the cross, were sufficient. 

I will now state that this city is situated in a plain, and is surrounded by 
other large populations — Tepeaca, Tlascala, Chalco, Tecamachalco, and 
Guaxacingo, and so many other large villages that I shall not attempt to 
name them here. 

The country produces maize, red pepper, and very many other things. 
There are a great many fields of corn ; it is this of which they make their 
wine. They also make there very handsome crockery ware, red, brown 
and white, and variously painted. They supply Mexico with it, as well 
as all the neighboring provinces, like the cities of Talavera and Palencia 
in Castile, They have in that city more than a hundred towers, which 
are cues or idol temples, — the largest of these is higher than that in Mexi- 
co ; although that in Mexico is very lofty and sumptuous. Each of these 
idol temples has a spacious court. We were informed that they have a 
very large idol there, the name of which I do not now remember, but it is 
held by them in great reverence, and they come from many and distant 
places to sacrifice to it and give to it a portion of what they possess. I re- 
member that when we first entered that city and saw these lofty white 
towers it looked like Valladolid itself 

Let us say no more of this city nor what happened in it, and we will 
speak of the squadrons which the great Montezuma had sent, and which 
were stationed in the ravines near the city of Cholula, where they had 
made their breastworks and dug ditches to prevent the passage of our 
horses, as I have before stated. When they learned what had happened 
they returned to Mexico with all speed, and gave Montezuma an account 
of everything that had taken place. But rapidly as they went, two of the 
ambassadors who had been with us, arrived in Mexico before them. We 
were informed that when Montezuma received the information he felt very 
great rage and grief, and immediately sacrificed certain Indians to his idol 
Huichilobos, which was his God of war, to the end that he would inform 
him what was to be the result of our going to Mexico, and whether he 
should allow us to enter into his city. We learned also that he was shut 
up in his devotions and sacrifices for two whole days, together with ten of 
the principal Papas, and that the advice which he received from his idols 
was, to send messengers to us to exculpate himself for the affair at Cholula, 
and that with all the signs of peace he should allow us to enter into the 
city of Mexico, and that whilst there by withholding food or water, or 
raising any of the bridges, he might destroy us ; and that in a single day if 



APPENDIX. 269 

he attacked us, not one of us would be left alive, and that he might then 
offer his sacrifices not only to Huichilobos, who gave this answer, but also 
to Tezcatepuca, the God of hell, and fill themselves with our legs, thighs 
and arms, and give the other parts of our bodies to the snakes and tigers 
which were kept in wooden cages, which I will hereafter relate in the pro- 
per time and place. 

We will say no more now of Montezuma, and the mortification which 
he felt. This castigation of Cholula was soon known in all the provinces 
of New Spain, and if before we had gained the reputation of being power- 
ful and brave in the wars of Potonchan, Tobasco, Cinga pacinga, and 
Tlascala, and they had called us Teules, which is the name by which they 
call their gods or evil beings, from this time forward they regarded us as 
prophets. They said that no evil design could in any way be concealed 
from us, and for this reason they all exhibited friendship towards us. 

I suppose that the curious reader is already weary of this narrative of 
Cholula and wishes that I had finished it, but I cannot omit to notice here 
the wooden cages we found there, which were full of Indian men and 
boys which they were fattening to sacrifice to their idols, and to eat their 
flesh. We broke the cages and Cortes ordered the Indians who were 
imprisoned in them to return to the countries of which they were natives, 
and ordered the captains and Papas that no such thing should be repeated, 
and that they must not again eat human flesh, and they promised that they 
would not ; but what availed these promises when they were not complied 
with? 

I will now pass on, and remark that these are the cruelties which the 
Bishop of Chiapa, Don Bartolemi de Las Casas, describes at so much 
length, and affirms that without any cause whatever, but only for our pas- 
time and because we had a fancy to it, we inflicted this punishment ; and I 
would remark that some good religious Franciscans who were the first 
friars his majesty sent to New Spain after the conquest, went to Cholula 
to examine and inquire how and in what manner the thing took place, and 
the cause of the punishment inflicted. Their inquiries were made of the 
Papas themselves and the old men of the city, and after the fullest examin- 
ation they found the facts to be neither more nor less than those stated 
in this my relation of them ; and if this chastisement had not been inflicted 
our lives would have been in the greatest danger from the numerous 
squadrons of Mexican and Cholulan warriors which were there assembled, 
and if it had been our misfortune to have been killed there, this New 
Spain would not have been so soon conquered, — and even if another expe- 
dition had been ventured upon, it would have been encountered with 
great toils and difficulties, for the Mexicans would have defended all the 



270 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

entrances into their country and they might have been left for ever in their 
idolatries. I have heard a Franciscan friar of most virtuous life say, 
that if this chastisement could have been avoided, and cause had not been 
given for it, it vi^ould have been better ; but, that it w^as well that it was 
done, that the Indians in all the provinces of New Spain might see and 
know that these idols and all others are wicked and lying things, and that 
seeing that everything which they promised had turned out the reverse 
they lost the devotion with which they had before regarded them, and from 
that time forward they never again offered sacrifices to them or came on 
pilgrimages to them from other parts as they had been accustomed to do, 
cared nothing for them, took them down from the high temple where they 
were kept, and concealed or broke them to pieces and they were never 
seen afterwards. 

I have translated these chapters, partly for the purpose of giving the 
reader " a taste of the quality" of the veracious old chronicler, and of the 
epic character of his whole narrative, — but still more to vindicate my 
favorite hero Cortes against the imputation of unnecessary cruelty ; I 
know no hero, ancient or modern, for whom I have more admiration than 
for Cortes, — and with some knowledge of the stirring scenes in which 
he was the principal actor, which an acquaintance with the language in 
which an account of them was originally written has enabled me to 
appreciate more justly, I am free to say that considering all the circum- 
stances with which he was surrounded, that the charge of cruelty so 
generally made against him is in my judgment without just foundation. 
I have no hesitation in saying that the punishment which he inflicted 
upon the Cholulans, more than anything else, insured his success ; he 
was about to enter the city of Mexico with less than five hundred men, 
where Montezuma was surrounded by countless warriors, — " When," as 
one of the Mexicans afterwards said, " that they had made the calcula- 
tion, and that they could lose twenty thousand of their men for every 
Spaniard that was killed, and in the end be victorious." The slaughter of 
the Cholulans struck terror not only into the heart of Montezuma, but of all 
his vassals. They had before regarded the Spaniards as invincible in 
battle ; the discovery of this plot by Cortes, notwithstanding the secresy 
with which it had been kept, added to this feeling a superstitious awe 
of the Spaniards, to whom they attributed something of omniscience 
also. It was absolutely necessary, too, that Cortes should guard against 
the repetition of such treachery, to which his situation exposed him ; it 



APPENDIX. 271 

may well be doubted whether he did not owe the final success which 
crowned his enterprise to this wise and just act of apparent severity. 
If the Spaniards had not succeeded, more human victims would have 
been sacrificed to the Mexican idols in one year than perished at Cho- 
lula. 

The only other act of cruelty which has been charged upon him was 
the torture and subsequent execution of Guatemozin ; Cortes remon- 
strated against and resisted the former until there was danger of a revolt 
and mutiny in the Spanish army, the consequences of which would have 
been most disastrous, — he was at last forced to yield to the clamors of 
his soldiers, but very soon interposed at great peril to himself, and res- 
cued Guatemozin. He was executed on the march to Honduras when 
Cortes went there to suppress the revolt of Christoval de Olid ; Cortes 
was afraid to leave Guatemozin in Mexico, and took him and many 
others of the most refractory amongst the Mexicans along with him. 

Cortes had satisfactory evidence, that on the march, Guatemozin had 
formed a plan which was ripe for execution, for the Mexicans to rise 
upon and massacre the Spaniards ; he owed it then to his own as well as 
the safety of his companions, that the leading conspirators should be 
punished. It is absurd to impute to Cortes any other motive for the act ; 
it could not have been to extort confessions as to concealed treasure, for 
he was then in a wilderness several hundred miles from Mexico, and if 
such had been the motive it would have been perpetrated in Mexico. It 
could not have been from any resentment which he had felt for the 
heroic defence which Guatemozin had made of his country and people ; 
Cortes was at all points a hero himself, and could have no other feeling 
on this occasion than that of sympathy and admiration, which he not 
only expressed but proved that he entertained by his generous kind- 
ness to the Mexican prince, and anxious sohcitude to spare his life 
and those of his people during the last days of that memorable siege ; 
there can be no doubt, therefore, that the execution was ordered from a 
deep conviction that the safety of the Spaniards demanded it. It is pos- 
sible that in this opinion he may have been mistaken, but if he really 
thought so, the act was justifiable, and at this distance of time it is 
assuming a great deal to say that Cortes did not judge rightly with no 
other lights than we have, and the distorted facts which were collected 
by his enemies, and the honorable sympathies which all must feel for that 
greatest of all Indian heroes, a being of romance rather than history, Gua- 



272 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

temozin. And, besides, Cortes, in addition to all his other great qualities, was 
a Christian, and a most sincere and devout one. One carmotread the his- 
tory of the conq uest, without being impressed with the conviction that, if 
not the primary object, his predominant idea was that he was spread- 
ing " nuestra santa fe" — our holy faith. In this particular he stands at 
an immeasurable height above all other conquerors; he would have 
suffered death before he would have said as did Bonaparte in Egypt, 
" There is no God but God, and Mahomet is his prophet." On the con- 
trary, wherever he passed he erected a cross, and tore down the Mexican 
idols, often at imminent peril to himself and his army. 

If the reader has been sufficiently interested in the character of Donna 
Marina to desire to know more of her history, he will find it in the 
following short chapter from the history of the conquest of New Spain, 
by Bernal Diaz : — 

How Donna Marina was a Caciquess, and the daughter of a great lord, and was a Princess 
of many villages and vassals. 

Before I say anything more of the great Montezuma and his city of 
Mexico and the Mexicans, I desire to say that Donna Marina, in her child- 
hood, was a princess of many villages and vassals. It was in this way : — 
Her father and mother were the Cacique and Cacica of a village called 
Painala, and had other villages subject to them about eight leagues from the 
town of Guaxacualco. Her father died when she was an infant, and her 
mother married another young cacique, by whom she had one son. And 
as they loved this son very much, they determined that he should inherit 
their title and estate ; and that there might be no difficulty in the way, they 
delivered the child, Donna Marina, in the night time, to some Indians of 
Xicalango, and spread the report that she had died. It happened at the 
same time that the child of one of their Indian slaves died, and they gave 
out that it was the heiress Donna Marina. The Indians of Xecalango gave 
her to the Tobascans, and the Tobascans gave her to Cortes. I knew her 
mother and her half brother after he was grown, when they jointly had 
command of their village, the last husband of the old woman then being 
dead. After they became Christians they were baptized, the mother by the 
name of Martha, and the son by that of Lazarus. 

All this I know perfectly well, for in the year fifteen hundred and twen- 
ty-three, after the conquest of Mexico and the other provinces, when 
Christoval de Olid revolted, with the army under his command, in Higueras, 
and Cortes went there, we passed by Guaxacualco. Nearly all the inhabit- 



APPENDIX. 273* 

ants of that town went with us, as I will relate in the proper time and. 
place. 

As Donna Marina, in all the wars of New Spain, Tlascala, and Mexico,, 
had shown herself so excellent a woman and so good an interpreter, Cor- 
tes always took her with him. It was on that expedition that he married 
her to a Hidalgo, whose name was Juan Xamarillo, in the village of Ori- 
zaba, before certain witnesses, one of whom was Aranda, an inhabitant of 
Tobasco ; and he told me about the marriage, which was not all as Gomara- 
relates it. Donna Marina had great influence and authority with all the- 
Indians of New Spain. "\¥hilst Cortes was at Guaxacualco he sent to sum- 
mon all the caciques of that province, to speak to them, and explain our 
holy doctrines, and to urge them to conduct themselves properly ; and the 
mother of Donna Marina, and her half brother Lazarus, came with the other- 
caciques. Donna Marina had long before this told me that she was a native 
of that province, and was a princess of many vassals — and Cortes and: 
Aguilar, the interpreter, also knew it very well . The mother and daugh-- 
ter thus met, and knew each other ; and they knew very well that she was< 
her daughter, for she resembled her very much. 

The mother and son were greatly alarmed, supposing that Cortes had 
sent for them to kill them, and they wept. When Donna Marina saw them: 
weeping, she consoled them, and told them to have no fear, for that when, 
they had delivered her to the Indians of Xicalango they knew no better,, 
and that she pardoned them. She gave them some clothes, and many jewels- 
of gold, and told them to return to their village. She said that God had. 
shown her great mercy in making her a Christian, and no longer a wor- 
shipper of idols, and in giving her a son by her lord and master, Cortes, 
and marrying her to such a gentleman as Juan Xamarillo ; and that if they 
would make her princess of all the provinces in New Spain, she would not 
accept it ; and that she took more pleasure in serving Cortes and her hus- 
band than in everything in the world besides. 

All this I heard myself, and moreover, I swear to it. It seems to me 
that it very much resembles the case of the brothers of Joseph, when they 
went into Egypt for corn. But now let us return to our subject. Donna 
Marina understood the language of Tobasco and of Guaxacualco, which is 
also the language of Mexico ; and Geronimo de Aguilar understood the 
language of Tobasco and Yucatan, which is the same ; and Aguilar so un- 
derstanding, Donna Marina would explain it to Cortes in the Castilian, 
and this was a great beginning in the conquest. And thus things went on 
most prosperously, praised be God. — Without Donna Marina we could not 
have understood the language of Mexico. 

13* 



274 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

II. 

PASSAGE RELATING TO GENERAL VICTORIA. 
(From Ward's Mexico.) 

" Two thousand European troops landed with Myares, and two thousand 
smore with Apodoaca, in 1816 ; and notwithstanding the desperate efforts of 
'-Victoria's men, their courage was of no avail against the superior disci- 
ypline and arms of their adversaries. In the course of the year 1816, most 
^of his old soldiers fell; those by whom he replaced them had neither the 

■ enthusiasm nor the same attachment to his person. The zeal with which 
ithe inhabitants had engaged in the cause of the revolution was worn out, 
with each reverse their discouragement increased, and as the disastrous ac- 
counts from the interior left them but little hope of bringing the contest to 
a favorable issue, — the villages refused to furnish any further supplies. 
The last remnant of Victoria's followers deserted him, and he was left ab- 
solutely alone, — still his courage was unsubdued, and his determination not 
to yield to the Spaniards under any circumstances, was unshaken. He re- 
fused the rank and rewards which Apodoaca offered him as the price of his 

■ submission, and determined to seek an asylum in the solitude of the forests, 
rather than accept the pardon on the faith of which so many of the insur- 
gents yielded up their arms. This extraordinary project was carried into 
execution with a decision characteristic of the man. 

Unaccompanied by a single attendant, and provided only with a little 
linen and a sword, Victoria threw himself into the mountainous district 
which occupies so large a portion of the province of Vera Cruz, and disap- 
peared fi"om the eyes of his countrymen. His after history is so extremely 
wild that I should hardly venture to relate it here, did not the unanimous 
evidence of his countrymen confirm the story of his sufferings as I have 
often heard it from his own mouth. 

During the first few weeks, Victoria was supplied with provisions by the 
Indians, who all knew and respected his name. But Apodoaca was so ap- 
prehensive that he would again emerge from his retreat, that a thousand 
men were ordered out in small detachments, literally to hunt him down. 
Wherever it was discovered that a village had either received him or re- 
lieved his wants, it was burnt without mercy ; and this rigor struck the 
Indians with such terror that they either fled at the sight of Victoria, or 
were the first to announce the approach of a man whose presence might 
prove so fatal to them. For upwards of six months he was followed like 
a wild beast by his pursuers, who were often so near him that he could 



APPENDIX. 275 

hear their imprecations against himself and Apodoaca too, for having con- 
demned them to so fruitless a search. On one occasion he escaped a de- 
tachment, which he fell in with unexpectedly, by swimming a river which 
they were unable to cross. And on several others he concealed himself, 
when in the immediate vicinity of the royal troops, beneath the thick 
shrubs and creepers with which the woods of Vera Cruz abound. 

At last a story was made up to satisfy the Viceroy of a body having 
been found which was recognized as that of Victoria, a minute description 
was given of his person, which was published officially in the Gazette 
of Mexico, and the troops were recalled to more pressing labors in the 
interior. But Victoria's trials did not cease with the pursuit ; harassed 
and worn out with the fatigues which he had undergone, his clothes torn to 
pieces and his body lacerated by the thorny underwood of the tropic, he 
was indeed allowed a little tranquillity, but his sufferings were still almost 
incredible. During the summer he managed to subsist on the fruits of 
which nature is so lavish in those climates, but in winter he was attenu- 
ated by hunger, and I have heard him repeatedly affirm that no repast had 
furnished him so much pleasure since as he experienced after being long 
deprived of food, in gnawing the bones of horses or other animals which he 
found dead in the woods. By degrees he accustomed himself to such absti- 
nence that he could remain four and even five days without taking any- 
thing but water without experiencing any serious inconvenience, but 
whenever he was deprived of sustenance for a longer period, his sufferings 
were very acute.* For thirty months he never tasted bread, nor saw a 
human being, nor thought at times ever to see one again ; his clothes were 
reduced to a single wrapper of cotton which he found one day when driven 
by hunger he approached nearer than usual to some Indian huts, and this 
he regarded as an inestimable treasure. The mode in which Victoria, cut 
off as he was from the world, received intelligence of the revolution of 
1821, is hardly less extraordinary than the fact of his having been able 
to support existence amidst so many hardships during the intervening 
period. 

When, in 1S18, he was abandoned by all the rest of his men, he was 
asked by two Indians who lingered with him to the last, and on whose 
fidelity he knew that he could rely, if any change took place, where he 
wished them to look for him, he pointed in reply to a mountain at some 

* When first I knew General Victoria in Vera Cruz, in 1823, lie was unable to eat above 
once in twenty-four hours, or even in thirty-six hours ; and now, though he conforms 
with the usual hours of his countrymen with regard to meals, he is one of the most 
abstemious of men. 



276 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

distance, and told them that on that mountain perhaps they might find his 
bones. His only reason for selecting it was its being particularly rugged 
and inaccessible, and surrounded by forests of vast extent ; the Indians 
treasured up this hint, and as soon as the first news of Iturbide's declaration 
reached them they set out in quest of Victoria. They separated on arriv- 
ing at the foot of the mountain, and spent six whole weeks in examining 
the woods with which it was covered. During this time they lived prin- 
cipally by the chase, but finding their stock of maize exhausted and all 
their efforts unavailing, they were about to give up the attempt when one 
of them discovered, in crossing a ravine which Victoria occasionally fre- 
quented, the print of a foot which he immediately recognized to be that 
of a European ; by European, I mean of European descent, and, conse- 
quently accustomed to wear shoes, which always gives a different shape to 
the foot very perceptible to the eye of a native. The Indian waited two 
days upon the spot, but seeing nothing of Victoria and finding his supply 
of provisions quite at an end, he suspended upon a tree near the place four 
tortillas (little maize cakes) which were all he had left, and set out for his 
village in order to replenish his wallets, hoping that if Victoria should pass 
in the meantime the tortillas would attract his attention, and convince him 
that some friend was in search of him. 

His little plan succeeded completely ; Victoria, on crossing the ravine 
two days afterwards, perceived the maize cakes, which the birds had for- 
tunately not devoured ; he had then been four whole days without eating, 
and upwards of two years without eating bread, — and he says himself that 
he devoured the tortillas before the cravings of his appetite would allow 
him to reflect upon the singularity of finding them on this solitary spot, 
where he had never before seen any trace of a human being. He was at 
a loss to determine whether they had been left there by friend or foe, but 
feeling sure that whoever had left them intended to return, he concealed 
himself near the place in order to observe his motions and to take his own 
measures accordingly. 

Within a short time, the Indian returned, and Victoria, who recognized 
him, started abruptly from his concealment to welcome his trusty follower ; 
but the man, terrified at seeing a phantom covered with hair, emaciated, 
and clothed only with an old cotton wrapper, advancing upon him with a 
sword in his hand from amidst the bushes, took to flight, and it was only 
on hearing himself called repeatedly by his name that he recovered his 
composure sufficiently to recognize his old general. He was affected 
beyond measure at the state in which he found him, and conducted him 
instantly to his village, where Victoria was received with the greatest 
enthusiasm. 



APPENDIX. 277 

The report of his re-appearance spread like lightning through the pro- 
vince, where it was not credited at first, so firmly was every one convinced 
of his death ; but as soon as it was known that Gaudaloupe Victoria was 
indeed alive, all the old insurgents rallied round him. In an incredibly 
short time, he induced the whole province, with the exception of the forti- 
fied towns, to declare for independence, and then set out to join Iturbide 
who was at the time preparing for the siege of Mexico. He was received 
with great apparent cordiality, but his independent spirit was too little in 
unison with Iturbide's projects for his good understanding to continue 
long. Victoria had fought for a liberal form of government, and not merely 
for a chinge of masters, and Iturbide, unable to gain him over, drove him 
again into the woods during his short-lived reign, from whence he only 
returned to give the signal for a general rising against the ambitious 
• emperor. 



III. 



THE EXECUTION OF MORELOS. 

[The following account of the closing scene of the life of Morelos is taken from Ward's 

Mexico.] 

Here the congress was very nearly surprised by Iturbide (in 1815), who, 
by a rapid and masterly march across the mountains of Michoacan, came 
upon the deputies almost before they were apprised of his approach. It 
was in consequence of this attempt, and with the view of placing the con- 
gress in safety, that Morelos determined to undertake his expedition to 
Tehuacan, in the province of La Puebia, where Teran had already assem- 
bled a considerable force. With only five hundred men he attempted a 
march of sixty leagues, across a part of the country occupied by several 
divisions of the royalists. He hoped, indeed, to be joined by Teran and 
Guerero, but his couriers were intercepted, and neither of these generals 
was aware of his situation. 

The Spaniards, conceiving the forces of Morelos to be much greater than 
they really were, did not venture to attack him until he had penetrated as 
far as Tesmaluca, where the Indians, though they received him with great 
apparent hospitality, conveyed intelligence both of the real number of his 
followers and of their wretched state to Don Manuel Concha, the nearest 
Spanish commandant, who determined to attack the convoy the next day. 
Morelos, fancying himself in security, as he was now beyond the enemy's 



278 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

line, was surprised on the following morning (5th Nov., 1815), by two par- 
ties of royalists, who came upon him unperceived in a mountainous part of 
the road. He immediately ordered Don Nicholas Bravo to continue his 
march with the main body, as an escort to the congress, while he himself, 
with a few men, endeavored to check the advance of the Spaniards. 

" My life," he said, " is of little consequence, provided the congress be 
saved. My race was run from the moment I saw an independent govern- 
ment established." His orders were obeyed, and Morelos remained with 
about fifty men, most of whom abandoned him when the firing became hot. 
He succeeded, however, in gaining time, which was his great object. Nor 
did the royalists venture to advance upon him until only one man was left 
by his side. He was then taken prisoner, for he had sought death in vain 
during the action. There can be little doubt that his late reverses had in- 
spired him with a disgust for life, and that he wished to end his days by a 
proof of devotion to his country worthy of the most brilliant part of his 
former career. 

Morelos was treated with the greatest brutality by the Spanish soldiers 
into whose hands he first fell. They stripped him, and conducted him, 
loaded with chains, to Tesmaluca. But Concha (to his honor be it said), 
on his prisoner being presented to him, received him with the respect due 
to a fallen enemy, and treated him with unwonted humanity and attention. 
He was transferred with as little delay as possible to the capital, and the 
whole population of Mexico flocked out to San Augustin de las Cuevas to 
see (and some to insult) the man whose name had so long been their terror. 
But Morelos, both on his way to prison and while in confinement, is said 
to have shown a coolness which he preserved to the last. Indeed, the only 
thing which seemed to affect him at all was his degradation ; a ceremony 
humiliating in itself, but rendered doubly so in his case, by the publicity 
which was given to it. His examination was conducted by the Oidor Ba- 
taller (whose insolent assertions of the natural superiority of the Splniards 
to the Creoles, is said first to have roused Morelos into action), and was not 
of long duration. On the 22d of December, 1815, Concha was charged to 
remove him from the prison of the inquisition to the hospital of San Chris- 
toval, behind which the sentence pronounced against him was to be carried 
into execution. On arriving there he dined in company with Concha, 
whom he afterwards embraced and thanked for his kindness. He then con- 
fessed himself, and walked with the most pei-fect serenity to the place of 
execution. The short prayer which he pronounced there deserves to be 
recorded for its affecting simplicity : " Lord, if I have done well thou 
knowest it ; if ill, to thine infinite mercy I commend my soul." 

After this appeal to the Supreme Judge, he fastened, with his own hands, 



APPENDIX. 279 

a handkerchief above his eyes, gave the signal to the soldiers to fire, and 
met death with as much composure as he had ever shown when facing it 
on the field of battle. 



IV. 



LETTER OF GENERAL JACKSON IN REFERENCE TO A TEXIAN PRISONER. 

Amongst the prisoners taken at San Antonio by General Wall, in the 
faU of 1842, was Mr. John Bradly. I had made very great efforts to ob- 
tain his release, but all in vain, until I received a letter from General 
Jackson in his behalf, which I sent to General Santa Anna, and imme- 
diately received an order for the release of Mr. Bradly. This I commu- 
nicated to General Jackson in a letter, which he published very unex- 
pectedly to me, as he was pleased afterward to say, in writing to me, be- 
cause " it was a transaction so honorable to me." With much greater 
reason, I take the liberty of publishing his letter to me in behalf of Mr. 
Bradly. The copy is verbatim, literatim et punctuatim, exact. The 
original is written in a bold and vigorous hand, without any of that 
tremulousness which is common in the writing of old men. 

If I am not mistaken, a gentleman, who was once the secretary of 
General Jackson, has published a statement that the original papers from 
his pen, were marked by some amusing mistakes of grammar, style and 
orthography — all of which he corrected. It is a little curious, if this be 
true, that this gentleman has never written anything before or since 
half as well. I am very much disposed to regard one who would 
make such a statement, even if true, as self-discredited, — there can be 
no confidence between men if such things are tolerated. 

Having long been the political opponent of General Jackson, it is due 
to myself to say, that I was the first man in South Carolina who advo- 
cated his pretensions to the Presidency in 1823, when a distinguished 
citizen of our own was one of the candidates ; and that I commenced 
my opposition to him whilst he was President, and at the period of his 
greatest popularity, when he had it in his power to have benefited me, — 
and that he had the disposition to have done so, I have the evidence. 

My opinions remain unchanged on all the questions of public policy, 
upon which I differed with him. But I have at all times entertained a 



280 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

proper respect for his many high qualities, and a grateful admiration for 
the blaze of glory in which he closed our last war. 

" Hermitage, July 12th, 1843. 

" The Honorable W. Thomson, Minister at Mexico : 

" Sir — I beg leave to call your attention to the enclosed letters in be- 
half of Mr. John Bradly, who is a prisoner in the castle of Perote within 
the jurisdiction of Mexico, having been captured whilst in the service of 
Texas, and held since as a prisoner. 

" You will perceive from the letters of ex-governor David Campbell, of 
Va., and the Honorable Mr. Hopkins, member of Congress, that Mr. Brad- 
ly was one of our most respectable citizens, and makes an appeal to our 
sympathies, on account of his dependent family, almost irresistible. I 
would write directly to President Santa Anna on the subject, but having 
done so on two occasions before, am apprehensive that my application on 
personal grounds might be deemed indelicate. President Santa Anna has 
informed me that my interposition has already effected the discharge of 
other citizens emigrating to Texas from the United States, and that in some 
instances, those discharged have again taken up arms against Mexico. I 
think it therefore, prudent to abstain from any further personal appeal, lest 
the kind feelings heretofore manifested by president Santa Anna might be 
changed, and given a direction which would prejudice the efforts of Mr. 
Bradly, and others situated like him, to obtain their freedom. 

" Should you, however, be of the opinion that the case of Mr. Bradly 
might be brought to the notice of president Santa Anna, as one in which I 
feel a deep interest, on account of his worthy and venerable father, with- 
out subjecting me to the imputation of presuming too far on the personal 
relations subsisting between myself and the President, I leave it to your 
discretion to make the communication to him. 

" I avail myself of this occasion to thank you for your kindness in vindi- 
cating my character, when my views and conduct respecting the separation 
of Texas from Mexico, were misrepresented and unjustly assailed.* On 

* Alluding to what had occuiTed between General Tornel, the Secretary of War, and 
myself, upon the occasion of my remonstrating against the Texlan prisoners 
being made to work on the streets, and other improper treatment which they received. 
General Tornel spoke in offensive terms of the conduct of my government in connection 
with the revolution in Texas. I repelled his charges with a good deal of warmth. He 
then said that he liked Mr. Tyler and Mr. Webster, and the whig party, but that it 
was to General Jackson and the democratic party that he had alluded, and that General 
Jackson was the originator of the revolution in Texas. He no doubt knew that I was a 



APPENDIX. 281 

the receipt of your letter, being confined with sickness, I was unable to 
respond to it and tender you my thanks for the justice you rendered me on 
that occasion, and I am now laboring under great debility, and write with 
great difficulty. Permit me to assure you that I subscribe myself with great 
cordiality and respect, your well wisher and obedient servant, 

" Andrew Jackson." 

This allusion to General Jackson recalls to my memory one of the most 
agreeable acquaintances which I formed whilst I was in Mexico, and 
one of the most striking men whom I have known anywhere — General 
Miller, the present British Consul General at the Sandwich Islands. He 
served in the British army as a subaltern officer in our late war -with 
England, and was at the battles of Baltimore, Bladensburg, and the eighth 
of January. At the close of the war he went to South America and en- 
tered the Patriot army. He was a long time aide-de-camp to Bolivar, and 
afterwards a major-general in the army. He commanded a division of 
the Patriot army at the great and decisive battle of Ayacucho, and bore a 
conspicuous part in all the wars of South America, as must be known to 
every one at all familiar with the history of those wars. He is in all 
respects an accomplished officer, and most fascinating gentleman. 

I was first introduced to him at a dinner party at the house of the Prus- 
sian minister, Mr. Von Gerolt ; the conversation turned upon the sub- 
ject of military peace establishments. General Miller said to me that he 
was surprised that any standing army should be kept up in the United 
States ; that certainly no nation would ever be so infatuated as to think 
of invading our country ; and that even if such a thing should occur, 
that our militia constituted an all-sufficient defence. I told him that I 
thought so, and that it was somewhat remarkable that the most credita- 
ble achievements of American arms had been in battles where the larger 
proportion of the troops engaged were militia. He asked me which of 
our victories I regarded as the most remarkable ? I was disinclined to 
enter upon that subject, as the only wars in which we had been engaged 
had been with his own country, and so said to him. He pressed the sub- 
ject, however, but in the most kind and gentlemanlike manner ; I had 

Whig. But he was greatly mistaken, as he soon discovered, if he supposed that any dis- 
paragement of the political party to which I was opposed, would be agreeable to me. I 
have no words to express the scorn which I feel for one who in a foreign country, or io 
Ms intercourse vrtth one, could for a moment remember our own party divisions. 



282 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

occasionally had discussions of the most good-humored character with 
some of the English gentlemen in Mexico upon the subject of the differ- 
ent battles between the troops of our respective countries, — this had 
been communicated to General Miller, and I saw that he was disposed to 
draw me into a discussion. He asked me if I regarded the battle of 
New Orleans as one of our greatest victories ? I replied that I certainly 
considered the battle of the 8th of January as somewhat of a victory. 
He admitted that it was, but said, that the American troops were protected 
by a breastwork. I replied, that they had no breastworks on the night 
of the 23d of December, that this battle was fought in a clear field, 
and that the number of the British forces was twice that of the 
American. He said that I was mistaken, that he was there himself, 
and that the American army numbered nearly two thousand men, and 
that not more than fifteen hundred of the British army had then landed 
or took any part in the engagement ; he admitted, however, that he was 
not one of those who had landed, and that he could not speak as of 
his own personal knowledge. He added, that there was nothing more 
natural than that the victorious party should exaggerate the number of the 
enemy ; 1 thought, and so said to him that there was at least one thing more 
natural wliich was that the vanquished army should state their numbers at 
less than they really were. I remembered that a few days after this 
battle. General Jackson had issued a general order in which he stated 
the force of the enemy as more than double his own ; I happened to 
have in the legation a copy of Niles' Register which contained this gene- 
ral order. — General Miller called the next day to read it, and in the end 
admitted that he might have been mistaken. He frequently visited me, 
and I parted with him with sincere regret, and shall always remember 
him with a respect not unmixed with admiration ; he was kind enough to 
give me an extract of a letter which he had written to Colonel O'Leary, 
who also had been one of the aides-de-camp of Bolivar. The reader will 
be, in some degree, able from this extract to judge whether 1 have over- 
rated the character of General Miller. 

Extract from a letter written by General Miller, dated 18th March, 1833, to Colonel O'Leary, 
respecting a parallel by the latter, between Washington and Bolivar, published in a Chi- 
lian newspaper. 

" Do not, my dear O'Leary, run away like our fiery friend, with the 
wrong notion, that I am inimical to the Liberator, because I happen to dif- 
fer widely from you in the general view I take of that celebrated man. 



APPENDIX. 



283 



Let us rather discuss the matter fairly and coolly, for by so doing we may 
be of mutual assistance to each other. My prejudices, if prejudices they 
be, may be made to vanish, and your excessive enthusiasm on some points, 
by being moderated, may be displayed with better effect. 

" In this spirit I will frankly confess that I do not think the parallel you 
have so eloquently drawn between Washington and Bolivar, quite accurate, 
much less that it would be advisable to give a similar one to the public ; 
at all events, there would be no harm in your consulting persons capable 
of judging of the merits of the case, who, unentangled with South Ameri- 
can affairs, may lay claim to impartiality. 

" Washington's pure patriotism, his steadiness of purpose, his admirable 
consistency of character and conduct, his stern undeviating principles, his 
aversion to everything flimsy and bombastic, in short, his elevated, noble 
ambition of meriting the approbation of a good, as well as a great, man, 
place him higher in the admiration and respect of the moral world, than 
any other hero, ancient or modern ; at least so I have always understood it 
to be. It is true that Washington had not large patrimonial domains to offer 
in support of the cause he espoused, but he was frugal, and did not squan- 
der any public money on himself or others ; and his being born in the mid- 
dle class of life, and in ' humble circumstances, whilst Bolivar was by birth 
the noblest of his native country,' was an accident that a republican would 
hardly advance to prove superiority in any way. 

" There is, indeed, little similarity of character between Washington and 
Bolivar. The first stands so high amongst all civilized people, that it is 
necessary to guard against saying anything bordering on disparageinent of 
him, in order, by comparison, to raise the fame of another, whose charac- 
ter and reputation have not yet been so satisfactorily established. Wash- 
ington not only aspired at achieving the independence of his country, but 
he labored incessantly, and he was gifted with the right sort of sterling 
genius to establish the finest frame-work of a government that ever existed ; 
at all events, one generally acknowledged to be the best adapted to a peo- 
ple, capable of being, and deserving to be free. He was not a violent re- 
publican one day, a Vitalicio the next, and alternately both, as suited his 
caprice or his opinion of circumstances. His merit did not consist in high- 
flown, flowery writings, but in productions abounding in plain good sense, 
and of practical utility. He never broke a solemn pledge ; had he done so, 
whatever and how sincere soever might have been his motives, he never 
would have obtained the high character awarded him. Washington, q^ther 
than break his word, would have lost his life. Neither Napoleon nor Bo- 
livar seemed to have understood— certainly did not always act upon— this 
grand moral principle, without which society must be very imperfect. 



284 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

" Warriors and heroes, I believe, are going out of fashion, and I am glad 
of it. Franklin, Bentham, and great men of their stamp will, as the march 
of intellect advances, possess more the admiration of future generations. 
This, however, is getting out of my depth ; I will, therefore, drop a sub- 
ject Ifeel incapable of handling — and recollect, what I have said is merely 
as a hint in the rough, for your perusal." 



V. 

DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 

Shortly after my arrival in Mexico, Mr. Bocanegra, the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, addressed a circular to the Members of the Diplomatic 
Corps, in relation to the conduct of our government in the war between 
Mexico and Texas. An object very near my heart was the release of 
the Texian prisoners, and as that matter was in a favorable train I was 
unwilling if I could have avoided it to have done anything to defeat it, but 
the circular to the diplomatic corps was of a character so offensive that 
I felt it to be my duty to reply to it. My reply bears date the 6th June, 
1842, and Mr. Webster's reply to the same in a despatch to me is dated 
on the 8th July, 1842. 

At the time that the reply of Mr. Webster was written, he had not 
received mine, but he received it five days afterwards, when his second 
communication to me bears date. My reply to Mr. Bocanegra has not 
been published in the newspapers of this country ; I hope, therefore, that 
I may be pardoned for inserting it in this volume. It will be seen that 
Mr. Webster pursues the same train of argument which I had before 
done, and instructs me to say almost exactly what I had already said in 
reply to Mr. Bocanegra, but of which it seems Mr. Webster was igno- 
rant at the time ; my arguments are all found in Mr. Webster's reply, 
with an additional argument on the right of expatriation, a right which 
Mexico has never denied, and a review of the Texian revolution. The 
reply of Mr. Webster, is doubtless better written, for the reason that he 
wrote the one and I the other. But the coincidence is certainly a 
striking one. 



APPENDIX. 285 

" I Translation.] 

"National Palace, Mexico, 
: " May 12, 1842. 

"The undersigned, Secretary of State and Foreign Relations, enjoys the 
satisfaction of addressing the honorable Secretary of State of the United 
States of America, in the name and by the express order of his excellency 
the President of the Mexican Republic. The relations of amity and good 
harmony which have happily subsisted between this and your great nation 
might have been disturbed, in a lamentable manner, since the year 1835, 
when the revolution of Texas broke out, if the Mexican government had 
not given so many evidences of its forbearance, and had not made so many 
and so great sacrifices for the sake of peace, in order that the world might 
not, with pain and amazement, see the two nations which appear to be 
destined to establish the policy and the interests of the American continent 
divided and ravaged by the evils of war. 

" But, from that truly unfortunate period, the Mexican Republic has 
received nothing but severe injuries and inflictions from the citizens of the 
United States. The Mexican government speaks only of the citizens of 
the United States, as it still flatters itself with the belief that it is not the 
government of that country which has promoted the insurrection in Texas, 
which has favored the usurpation of its territory, and has supplied the 
rebels with ammunition, arms, vessels, money and recruits — but that these 
aggressions have proceeded from private individuals, who have not respected 
the solemn engagements which bind together the two nations, nor the 
treaties concluded between them, nor the conduct, ostensibly frank, of the 
Cabinet of Washington. 

" It is, however, notorious, that the insurgent colonists of that integral 
part of the territory of the Mexican Republic would have been unable to 
maintain their prolonged rebellion, without the aid and efficient sympa- 
thies of citizens of the United States, who have publicly raised forces in 
their cities and towns ; have fitted out vessels in their ports, and laden them 
with munitions of war ; and have marched to commit hostilities against a 
firiendly nation, under the eyes and with the knowledge of the authorities 
to whom are intrusted the fulfilment of the law. 

" The Mexican government entertains so high an opinion of the force of 
the government of the United States, and of its power to restrain those its 
subjects from violating the religious faith of treaties, solemnly concluded 
between it and other nations, and from committing hostilities against such 
nations in time of peace, that it cannot easily comprehend how those per- 
sons have been able to evade the punishment decreed against them by the 



286 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

laws of the United States themselves, and to obtain that quiet impunity 
which incessantly encourages them to continue their attacks. It is well 
worthy of remark, that, no sooner does the Mexican gorernment, in the 
exercise of its rights, which it cannot and does not desire to renounce, pre- 
pare means to recover a possession usurped from it, than the whole popu- 
lation of the United States, especially in the southern States, is in commo- 
tion ; and, in the most public manner, a large portion of them is turned 
upon Texas, in order to prevent the rebels from being subjected by the 
Mexican arms, and brought back to proper obedience. 

" Could proceedings more hostile, on the part of the United States, have 
taken place, had that country been at war with the Mexican Republic .' 
Could the insurgents of Texas have obtained a co-operation more effective 
or mor5 favorable to their interests ? Certainly not. The civilized world 
looks on with amazement, and the Mexican government is filled with 
unspeakable regret, as it did hope, and had a right to hope, that, living in 
peace with the United States, your government would preserve our territory 
from the invasions of your own subjects. The vicinity of a friend is an 
advantage rather than an inconvenience ; but if one neighbor oversteps the 
sacred limits imposed by treaties, and disturbs and harasses another, it can- 
not oe maintained that the friendship of the former is real, and that much 
confidence should be placed in it 

" The government of the Mexican Republic, therefore, which regards 
the faithful fulfilment of treaties as its highest obligation, which anxiously 
desires to preserve and increase its friendly relations with the people and 
the government of the United States, finds itself under the necessity of 
protesting solemnly against the aggressions which the citizens of those 
States are constantly repeating upon the Mexican territory, and of declar- 
ing, in a positive manner, that it considers as a violation of the treaty of 
amity the toleration of a course of conduct which produces an incomprehen- 
sible state of things — a state neither of peace nor war — but inflicting 
upon the Mexican Republic the same injuries and inconveniences as if war 
had been declared between the two nations, which are called by Provi- 
dence to form with each other relations and bonds of extreme and cordial 
friendship. 

And the undersigned, in complying with this order from the most excel- 
lent Provisional President of the Republic of Mexico, assures you, sir, of 
the high consideration with which he remains your obedient servant, 

" J. M. De Bocanegra. 
" Hon. Daniel Webster , 

" Secretary of State 

" of the United States of America" 



APPENDIX. 287 

" [ Translation.] 

" Circular to the Diplomatic Corps residing in Mexico. 

" National Palace, Mexico, 
" May 31, 1842. 

" The undersigned, Minister of Foreign Relations and Government, has 

the honor to address , in order to inform him of the situation in which 

the affairs of Texas stand between Mexico and the United States of Ameri- 
ca, making known to him the honesty and good faith with which the gov- 
ernment of the Mexican Republic has acted in this important matter, and 
thus to avoid any interpretation [misinterpretation ?] of its conduct. 

" As soon as his excellency, the Provisional President, had taken charge 
of the government, he endeavored to settle all the difficulties which had 
previously existed against the reconquest of Texas, being, as he still is, 
persuaded that every sacrifice ought to be made on that point, with the 
utmost pleasure, in order to vindicate satisfactorily, and firmly to sustain, 
the dignity and the honor of the nation. The first measures taken with 
this object awakened the ambition of some persons in the United States of 
. North America, and their citizens hastened to assist the adventurers of 
Texas in an explicit and ample manner, forgetting their duties towards 
Mexico, arising from the relations between this republic and that of the 
United States of America. In presence of their authorities, meetings have 
been formed with that express object. Volunteers have been enlisted and 
armed, who marched to that usurped territory, and with them have been sent 
munitions of war, provisions, and everything else necessary for hostilities 
against the Mexicans ; no other cry being heard than that of war against 
Mexico, and assistance to Texas. The supreme government has remonstrated 
against such conduct frankly, being persuaded that the government of the 
United States would cause its citizens to return to their duty ; but it sees, with 
regret, that, far from giving this evidence on its own part, and on the part 
of its subaltern and local authorities, the aggressions made upon the terri- 
tory of this republic are tolerated, notwithstanding the Mexican govern- 
ment has protested, formally and repeatedly, against them, making known 
to the United States the violation committed and the wrong done by thus 
acting in opposition to the most sacred principles of national law, and the 
treaties of amity by which both nations are strongly bound. 

" His excellency, the Provisional President, desires, in consequence of 
what has been here set forth, and with regard to the future, that the na- 
tions with which the Mexican Republic happily maintains the strongest 
friendship should be made well aware of these facts, and should know that 



288 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

Mexico, though not wishing to disturb the relations which she still pre- 
serves with the said United States, will assert and maintain the justice of 
her cause, which she considers to be based on the law of nations, by doing 
all that is imperiously required for her honor and dignity. 

" The undersigned, who well knows the uprightness and the sound judg- 
ment of his excellency , doubts not that he will submit all that is 

here set forth to his enlightened government ; and, while requesting that 
gentleman to do so, by express order of his excellency the Provisional 
President, he repeats the assurances of his most distinguished considera- 
tion. 

" J. M. De Bocanegra." 
"(A true copy.) 

"Mexico, June 1, 1842. 

" Mr. Thompson to th.e Diplomatic Corps in Mexico. 

" Legation of the United States of America, 
" Mexico, June 6, 1842. 

" Sir : I have received from the Minister of Foreign Relations and Go- 
vernment a copy of the circular which he has been pleased to address to 
yourself and to each of the diplomatic representatives of other coun- 
tries resident here, and also a copy of a communication addressed to Mr. 
Webster, the Secretary of State of the United States. At first I thought 
that I would reply to neither, but leave them to be answered by Mr. Web- 
ster, well satisfied that the reply of that distinguished citizen would carry 
with it much higher authority, both from his oflBcial position and the greater 
ability with which the topics involved would be treated by him ; but, upon 
further reflection, I have felt it to be my duty to address you upon the sub- 
ject. 

" I cannot express to you my astonishment and regret at this procedure 
on the part of the Mexican Government. The appeal is in itself an ex- 
traordinary proceeding, and still more extraordinary in the positions which 
are assumed, and in the tone of menace and ill feeling which pervade both 
documents. Whilst I am very sure that the Government of the United 
States recognizes no tribunal to which it holds itself responsible but the 
enlightened public opinion of its own people, yet a just regard for the 
opinions of the world may require a reply to, and refutation of, the very 
harsh charges, which are equally harshly made by the Mexican Govern- 
ment. I deny, then, broadly, that the Government of the United States 
has in any one of the cases stated, or in any other particular, openly or 
secretly ' violated the most sacred of the principles and the rights of na- 



APPENDIX. 289' 

tions ' towards the Government of Mexico ; on tlie contrary, I affirm, that 
to no Government in Christendom has the conduct of the United States^ 
been so uniformly kind and forbearing. So remarkably has this beeiu 
the case, that, since the existence of Mexico as a republic, I am not aware 
that there has been a single complaint, or cause of complaint, against the 
Government of the United States, with the exception of the difficulties 
growing out of the Texian war ; and I trust that I shall be able fully and 
entirely to vindicate the conduct of my Government in relation to that. 
Not only have we never done an act of an unfriendly character towards 
Mexico, but, I confidently assert, that from the very first moment of the ■ 
existence of the republic, we have allowed to pass unimproved no oppor- 
tunity of doing Mexico an act of kindness. I will not now enumerate 
the acts of that character both to the Government of Mexico and its citi- 
zens, public and private. If this Government chooses to forget them, I 
will not recall them. Whilst such has been our course to Mexico, it is; 
with pain that I am forced to say that the open violation of the rights of 
American citizens, by the authorities of Mexico, has been greater, for the- 
last fifteen years, than those of all the Governments of Christendom, 
united ; and yet we have left the redress of all these multiplied and accu- 
mulated wrongs to friendly negotiation, without having even intimated a. 
disposition to resort to force. 

" I have deemed it necessary to make these preliminary remarks before- 
proceeding to consider the charges, as I now do, so solemnly preferred^ 
against my Government, in the circular addressed to you. These charges,, 
as I understand them, are the following : 

" 1st. Public meetings in the United States in favor of Texas. 
" 2. The aid furnished the Texians by volunteers from the United' 
States. 

" 3. The sending of arms and munitions of war to the Texians. 
" As to the matter of public meetings of the people, I have yet to learn 
that such meetings have ever been considered, by any writer on public 
law, as a violation of neutrality, or that, up to this time, any complaint 
has been made on that point. The right of our people thus to assemble,^ 
for any purpose, is not only secured by an express provision of our Consti- 
tution, but has a much older and equally honorable origin ; it was one of 
the great securities of English liberty, extorted from an unwilling and ar- 
bitrary sovereign ; it is, perhaps, the very last which our people will ever 
permit to be violated or curtailed. 

"The Government is not obliged to act upon the remonstrances and pe- 
titions of these meetings, and it is the action of the Government alone which 
is to be complained of. Such meetings, upon all subjects, are of daily oc- 
14 



RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

currence. In the very same week, for example, in which the meeting in 
New Orleans in favor of Texas was held, there was another meeting in 
favor of the repeal of the Irish union, and with the view to contribute 
funds and other aid to that end. During the late Canadian insurrection, 
such meetings of our citizens were of frequent occurrence on the Canadian 
fi-ontier, yet it never has occurred to the British Cabinet to make any com- 
plaint on the subject. Again r Public meetings are constantly held in Eng- 
land, for the purpose of aiding in the abolition of a great and vital institu- 
ftion of the United States, and agents are sent to our country to disseminate 
itiieir dangerous principles. Nay, more ; they come to our country, and ad- 
' dress public assemblies, denouncing a large portion of our people and our 
institutions, in language, in comparison with which that used in the public 
;raeetings towards Mexico is the language of compliment. Such meetings 
are daily held, in which, in the violence of party excitement, language the 
most harsh and unmeasured is applied to the policy of our Government and 
the conduct of its officers. I should, therefore, regret to believe that the 
peace of the United States and Mexico depends upon the former being re- 
quired to interfere, in any way, to prevent these public meetings, well 
knowing that this is impossible. I come now to the second ground — the aid 
furnished by volunteers from the United States. 

" It is not to be wondered at that this has caused some ill feelings on the 
part of the Mexicans towards us. But I had hoped that the intelligent 
men who are at the head of the Mexican Government would have been 
satisfied that my Government had used all the means in its power to pre- 
vent this ; and I think I may say, with confidence, that it has done all that 
was required by the obligations of the laws of nations, and of that good 
faith which should be observed between friendly Governments. Our own 
laws upon this subject, which embody to the fullest extent the principles 
•of the law of nations, only authorize the prevention of armed and orga- 
nized expeditions. It is not permitted, nor is it to be expected, that we 
should forbid emigration ; nor is it a violation of the obligations of neutral- 
ity that the counti-y to which our people choose to emigrate happens to be 
at war with another with which we are friendly. The citizens and sub- 
jects of all countries have gone to Texas and joined its armies The only 
difference is, that a larger number of the people of the United States has 
gone to that country. Does the number alter the principle ? If one may 
go, may not ten .' If ten, why not a hundred, or a thousand ? The prin- 
ciple is the same. An American citizen, for example, is about to embark 
from New Orleans, and he has his rifle, Bowie knife, and pistols. Have 
our authorities any power to stop him .' If there are ten, or a hundred, 
fhe case is the same. I go further ; If they admit they are going to Texasj 



APPENDIX. 29^ 

and intend to become citizens, and to join the armies of that country, it 
cannot be prevented. All that could be said to them would be, « If you 
go to Texas and become citizens, you have a right to do so — to change 
your allegiance, and to discharge all the new duties which such a change 
of allegiance may exact ; but you are no longer a citizen of the United 
States.' 

" If a regular military expedition is fitted out, then it is not only our 
right, but our high duty, to prevent it. In all the revolutionary move- 
ments of the South American Republics, including Mexico, large numbers 
of our people joined the insurgents. It has always been so, and always 
will be. Such is the innate and enthusiastic love of liberty of our people, 
that, wherever on this continent the banner may float with that sacred 
word inscribed upon it, our ardent, impetuous, and often inconsiderate 
young men will be found rallying to it, doubtless without properly judging 
of the principles involved, or of the benefits to the great cause of human 
rights from the result. Such was eminently the case when Mexico revolt- 
ed from Spain, but with this remarkable difference — that the American 
citizens taken prisoners by Spain whilst fighting for Mexico, were prompt- 
ly released, upon the application of our Government. 

The third and last ground is, the furnishing the Texians with arms 
and munitions of war, not by our Government, but by private individuals, 
on their own account, and at their own risk. I confess that I was surprised 
to see this made a matter of complaint by so eminent a jurist as Mr. De 
Bocanegra. I assert that such trade is no violation of neutrality ; that it 
has never been so regarded by any respectable writer on public law ; and 
that it is a well-settled principle, that, to send articles contraband of war 
to a belligerent is no violation of neutrality, the only penalty being the for- 
feiture of the articles themselves. 

" The old rule, indeed, was, that the articles, if seized by the belligerent, 
should be paid for ; but the very farthest that :he principle upon this sub- 
ject has been carried is, that the articles should be forfeited. Vattel says . 
' Recourse is had to the expedient of confiscating all contraband goods that 
we can seize on, in order that the fear of loss may operate as a check on 
the avidity of gain, and deter the merchants of neutral countries from sup- 
plying the enemy with such commodities. 

" ' In order, therefore, to avoid perpetual subjects of complaint and rup- 
ture, it has, in perfect conformity to sound principles, been agreed that the 
belligerent powers may seize and confiscate all contraband goods which 
neutral persons attempt to carry to their enemy, without any complaint of 
the sovereign of those merchants ; as, on the other hand, the Power at war 
does not impute to the neutral sovereigns those practices of their subjects. 



292 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

Care is taken to settle every particular of this kind in treaties of commerce 
and navigation.' — (Book iii., chap. 7, § 112). 

I will not extend this article further, by quoting more from authors on 
public lavv^ to prove the position which I have above asserted. You will 
perhaps be surprised to learn that this principle of the law of nations is 
embodied in and made a separate and express article of the treaty between 
Mexico and the United States (viz.. Article 20). 

' The articles of contraband before enumerated and classified, which 
may be found in a vessel bound for the enemy's port, shall be subject to de- 
tention and confiscation, Zeatnng'/ree the rest of the cargo and vessel, that 
the owners may dispose of them as they see proper. No vessel of either 
of the two nations shall be detained on the high seas, on account of having 
on board articles of contraband, whenever the master, captain, or super- 
cargo of said vessel will deliver up the articles of contraband to the captor, 
unless the quantity of such article be so gi'eat, and of so large a bulk, that 
they cannot be received on board the capturing vessel without great incon- 
venience ; but in this, and all other cases of just detention, the vessel de- 
tained shall be sent to the nearest convenient and safe port, for trial and 
judgment according to law.' 

Here you will see that the sole penalty, and so expressly stated, is the 
forfeiture of the articles of contraband ; and, as if to put it in the strongest 
possible light that this is to be the sole penalty, it is stipulated that, if the 
vessel is found cai-rying contraband of war, the articles of contraband shall 
be taken out, and the vessel allowed to proceed. 

If anything more could be required on this subject, it is found in the 
fact that munitions of war are now constantly shipped from New Orleans 
to Mexico, with the knowledge of our authorities, and without any right 
or disposition to prevent it. Within the last six months, two armed schoon- 
ers, built in the United States, and known to be intended expressly for the 
Texian war, were permitted to leave our ports, not to cruise against Texas, 
but as the property of the builders, to be transferred to Mexico when they 
should be beyond the jurisdiction of the United States — these contractors 
taking the risk, that, being contraband of war, they might be seized by the 
Texians, and would be liable to forfeiture. Nay, more : when one of these 
vessels was wrecked, a Government vessel of the United States was sent 
expressly to rescue the passengers and as much of the wreck as was valu- 
able. 

After all these things, sir, am I not justified in expressing the astonish- 
ment which I have felt in reading the communication addressed to you 
in which, among other things, is charged, and in terms not the most cour- 
teous, as one of our offences against the law of nations, this very act of 



APPENDIX. 293 

sending munitions of war, the right to do which is expressly secured by 
our treaty with Mexico, and of the practice of which Mexico has largely 
availed herself. 

I hope that the Mexican Government will review its opinions upon 
these subjects, and I am not restrained from the expression of this hope by 
the language of apparent menace which has been used in the communica- 
tions to which I have alluded. I am very sure that no one who is familiar 
with the past history of my country will attribute these feelings to fear on 
her part. They proceed from a very different source. Whilst we are, at 
ail times, prepared to meet, as becomes us, coUisioiis with other countries, 
we do not deem it discreditable to say, that we hold war, in all its forms, as 
one of the greatest of human calamities, and a causeless war as the very 
greatest of public crimes. 

I have the honor to be, with the greatest respect, your obedient servant, 

" Waddy Thompsott." 

"Mr. Webster to Mr. Thompson. — (copy.) 

" Department of State, 

" Washington, July 8, 1842. 

" Sir : On the 29th of last month, a communication was received at this 
Department, from Mr. de Bocanegra, Secretary of State and Foreign Rela- 
tions of the Government of Mexico, having been forwarded through the 
agency of Mr. Velazquez de Leon, at New York, who informed the De- 
partment, by a letter accompanying that of Mr. de Bocanegra, that he had 
been appointed Charge d'Affaires of the Mexican Republic to this Govern- 
ment, although he had not yet presented his credentials. Mr. de Bocane- 
gra's letter is addressed to the Secretary of State of the United States, and 
bears date the 12th of May. A copy, together with copy of the commu- 
nication from Mr. Velazquez de Leon, transmitting it, and of the answer 
to Mr. Velazquez de Leon, from this Department, you will receive here- 
with. Upon the receipt of this despatch, you will immediately address a 
note to Mr. de Bocanegra, in which you will say, that — 

" The Secretary of State of the United States has received a letter ad- 
dressed to him by Mr. de Bocanegra, under date of the 12th of May, and 
transmitted to the Department of State at Washington, through the agency 
of Mr. Velazquez de Leon, at New York, who informs the Government 
of the United States that he has been appointed Charge d'Affaires of the 
Mexican Republic, although he has not presented his letter of credence. 

" The Government of the United States sees with regret the adoption, on 
this occasion, of a form of communication quite unusual in diplomatic in- 



294 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

tercourse, and for which no necessity is known. An envoy extraordinary 
and minister plenipotentiary of the United States, fully accredited to the 
Government of Mexico, was at that moment in its capital, in the actual 
discharge of his functions, and ready to receive, on behalf of his Govern- 
ment, any communication which it might be the pleasure of the President 
of the Mexican Republic to make to it. And it is not improper to here add, 
that it has been matter of regret with the Government of the United States, 
that while, being animated with a sincere desire at all times to cultivate 
the most amicable relations with Mexico, it has not failed to maintain, 
near that Government, a mission of the highest rank known to its usages, 
Mexico, for a long time, has had no representative near the Government of 
the United States. 

" But the manner of the communication from Mr. de Bocanegra, however 
novel and extraordinary, is less important than its contents and character, 
which surprises the Government of the United States, by a loud complaint 
of the violation of its neutral duties. Mr. de Bocanegra, speaking, as he 
says, by the express order of the President of the Mexican Republic, de- 
clares that the amicable relations between the two countries might have 
been lamentably disturbed, since the year 1835, when the revolution of 
Texas broke out, had not Mexico given so many evidences of its forbear- 
ance, and made so many and so great sacrifices for the sake of peace, in 
order that the world might not see, with pain and amazement, two nations 
which appear destined to establish the policy and interests of the Ameri- 
can continent divided and ravaged by the evils of war. 

" This language implies, that such has been the conduct of the United 
States towards Mexico, that war must have ensued before the present 
time, had not Mexico made great sacrifices to avoid such a result — a 
charge which the Government of the United States utterly denies and re- 
pels. It is wholly ignorant of any sacrifices made by Mexico, in order to 
preserve peace, or of any occasion calling on its Government to manifest 
uncommon forbearance. On the contrary, the Government of the United 
States cannot but be of opinion that, if the history of the occurrences be- 
tween the two Governments, the state of things at this moment existing 
between them, be regarded, both the one and the other will demonstrate 
that it is the conduct of the Government of the United States which has 
been marked, in an especial manner, by moderation and forbearance. In- 
juries and wrongs have been sustained by citizens of the United States, 
not inflicted by individual Mexicans, but by the authorities of the Govern- 
ment ; for which injuries and wrongs, numerous as they are, and outrage- 
ous as is the character of some of them, and acknowledged as they are by 
Mexico herself, redress has been sought only by mild and peaceable 



APPEiVDIX. 295 

means, and no indemnity asked but such as the strictest justice impera- 
tively demanded. A desire not to disturb the peace and harmony of the 
two countries has led the Government of the United States to be content 
with the low^est measure of remuneration. Mexico herself must admit 
that, in all these transactions, the conduct of the United States tow^ards her 
has been signalized, not by the infliction of injuries, but by the manifesta- 
tion of a friendly feeling and a conciliatory spirit. 

" The Government of the United States will not be unjust in its senti- 
ments towards Mexico ; it will not impute to its Government any desire to 
disturb the peace ; it acquits it of any design to spread the ravages and hor- 
rors of war over the two countries ; and it leaves it to Mexico herself to 
avow her own motives for her pacific policy, if she have any other motive 
than those of expediency and justice ; provided, however, that such avowal 
of her motives carry with it no imputation or reflection upon the good faith 
and honor of the United States. 

" The revolution in Texas, and the events connected with it and springing 
out of it, are Mr. de Bocanegra's principal topic ; and it is in relation to 
these that his complaint is founded. His Government, he skys, flatters it- 
self that the Government of the United States has not promoted the insur- 
rection in Texas, favored the usurpation of its territory, or supplied the 
rebels with vessels, ammunition, and money. If Mr. de Bocanegra in- 
tends this as a frank admission of tlie honest and cautious neutrality of the 
Government of the United States in the contest between Mexico and Texas, 
he does that Government justice, and no more than justice ; but if the lan- 
guage be intended to intimate an opposite and a reproachful meaning, that 
meaning is only the more offensive for being insinuated rather than dis- 
tinctly avowed. Mr. de Bocanegra would seem to represent that, from 
1835 to the present time, citizens of the United States, if not their Gov- 
ernment, have been aiding rebels in Texas in arms against the lawful au- 
thority of Mexico. This is not a little extraordinary. Mexico may have 
chosen to consider, and may still choose to consider, Texas as having been 
at all times, since 1835, and as still continuing, a rebellious province ; but 
the world has been obliged to take a very different view of the matter. 
From the time of the battle of San Jacinto, in April, 1836, to the present 
moment, Texas has exhibited the same external signs of national independ- 
ence as Mexico herself, and with quite as much stability of Government. 
Practically free and independent, acknowledged as a political sovereignty 
by the principal Powers of the world, no hostile foot finding rest within 
her territory for six or seven years, and Mexico herself refraining for all 
that period from any further attempt to re-establish her own authority over 
that territory, it cannot but be surprising to find Mr. de Bocanegra com- 



296 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

plaining that, for that whole period, citizens of the United States, or its 
Government, have been favoring the rebels of Texas, and supplying them 
with vessels, ammunition, and money, as if the war for the reduction of 
the province of Texas had been constantly prosecuted by Mexico, and her 
success prevented by these influences from abroad ! 

" The general facts appertaining to the settlement of Texas, and the 
revolution in its Government, cannot but be well known to Mr. de Boca- 
negra. By the treaty of the 22d of February, 1S19, between the United 
States and Spain, the Sabine was adopted as the line of boundary between 
the two Powers. Up to that period, no considerable colonization had been 
effected in Texas ; but the territory between the Sabine and the Rio Grande 
being confirmed to Spain by the treaty, applications were made to that 
Power for grants of land ; and such grants, or permissions of settlement 
were, in fact, made by the Spanish authorities, in favor of citizens of the 
United States, proposing to emigrate to Texas, in numerous families, before 
the declaration of independence by Mexico. And these early grants were 
confirmed, as is well known, by successive acts of the Mexican Govern- 
ment, after its separation from Spain. In January, 1823, a national coloni- 
zation law was passed, holding out strong inducements to all persons who 
should incline to undertake the settlement of uncultivated lands; and 
although the Mexican law prohibited for a time citizens of foreign coun- 
tries from settling, as colonists, in territories immediately adjoining such 
foreign countries, yet even this restriction was afterwards repealed or sus- 
pended ; so that, in fact, Mexico, from the commencement of her political 
existence, held out the most liberal inducements to emigrants into her 
territories, with full knowledge that these inducements were likely to act, 
and expecting they would act, with the greatest effect upon citizens of the 
United States, especially of the Southern States, whose agricultural pur- 
suits naturally rendered the rich lands of Texas, so well suited to their 
accustomed occupation, objects of desire to them. The early colonists of 
the United States, introduced by Moses and Stephen Austin under these 
inducements and invitations, were persons of most respectable character, 
and their undertaking was attended with very severe hardships, occasioned 
in no small degree by the successive changes in the Government of Mexi- 
co. They nevertheless persevered, and accomplished a settlement. And, 
under the encouragements and allurements thus held out by Mexico, other 
emigrants followed, and many thousand colonists from the United States 
and elsewhere had settled in Texas within ten years from the date of Mexi- 
can independence. Having some reason to complain, as they thought, of 
the Government over them, and especially of the aggressions of the Mexi- 
can military stationed in Texas, they sought relief by applying to the 



APPENDIX. 297 

. Supreme Government for the separation of Texas from Coahuila, and for a 
local Government for Texas itself. Not having succeeded in this object, 
in the process of time, in the progress of events, they saw fit to attempt an 
entire separation from Mexico, to set up a Government of their own, and 
to establish a political sovereignty. "War ensued ; and the battle of San 
Jacinto, fought on the 21st of April, 1836, achieved their independence 
The war was from that time at an end, and in March following the inde- 
pendence of Texas was formally acknowledged by the Government of the 
United States. 

" In the events leading to the actual result of these hostilities, the United 
States had no agency, and took no part. Its Government had, from the first, 
abstained from giving aid or succor to either party. It knew its neutral 
obligations, and fairly endeavored to fulfil them all. It acknowledged the 
independence of Texas only when that independence was an apparent and 
an ascertained fact ; and its example in this particular has been followed 
by several of the most considerable Powers of Europe. 

" It has been sometimes stated, as if for the purpose of giving more reason 
to the complaints of Mexico, that, of the military force which acted against 
Mexico with efficiency and success in 1836, a large portion consisted of 
volunteers then fresh from the United States. But this is a great error. It 
is "well ascertained, that of those who bore arms in the Texian ranks in the 
battle of San Jacinto, three-fourths at least were colonists, invited into 
Texas by the grants and the colonization laws of Mexico, and called to the 
field by the exigencies of the times in 1836, from their farms and other 
objects of private pursuit. 

" Mr. de Bocanegra's complaint is two-fold : first, that citizens of the 
United States have supplied the rebels in Texas with ammunition, arms, 
vessels, money and recruits ; have publicly raised forces in their cities and 
fitted out vessels in their ports, loaded them with munitions of war, and 
marched to commit hostilities against a friendly nation, under the eye and 
with the knowledge of the public authorities. In all this, Mr. de Bocanegra 
appears to forget that, while the United States are at peace with Mexico, 
they are also at peace with Texas ; that both stand on the same footing of 
friendly nations ; that, since 1837, the United States have regarded Texas 
as an independent sovereignty, as much as Mexico ; and that trade and com- 
merce with citizens of a Government at war with Mexico cannot, on that 
account, be regarded as an intercourse by which assistance and succor are 
given to Mexican rebels. The whole current of Mr. de Bocanegra's re- 
marks runs in the same direction, as if the independence of Texas had not 
been acknowledged. It has been acknowledged — it was acknowledged in 
1837, against the remonstrance and protest of Mexico ; and most of the 
14* 



298 RECOLLECTIONS OP MEXICO. 

acts of any importance, of which Mr. de Bocanegra complains, flow neces- 
sarily from that recognition. He speaks of Texas as still being ' an integral 
part of the territory of the Mexican Republic ;' but he cannot but under- 
stand that the United States do not so regard it. The real complaint of 
Mexico, therefore, is, in substance, neither more nor less than a complaint 
against the recognition of Texan independence. It may be thought rather 
late to repeat that complaint, and not quite just to confine it to the United 
States, to the exemption of England, France, and Belgium, unless the Unit- 
ed States, having been the first to acknowledge the independence of Mexi- 
co herself, are to be blamed for setting an example for the recognition of 
that of Texas. But it is still true that Mr. de Bocanegra's specification of 
his grounds of complaint and remonstrance is mainly confined to such 
transactions and occurrences as are the natural consequence of the political 
relations existing between Texas and the United States. Acknowledging 
Texas to be an independent nation,' the Government of the United States, 
of course, allows and encourages lawful trade and commerce between the 
two countries. If articles contraband of war be found mingled with this 
commerce, while Mexico and Texas are belligerent States, Mexico has the 
right to intercept the transit of such articles to her enemy. This is the 
common right of all belligerents, and belongs to Mexico in the same extent 
as to other nations. But Mr. de Bocanegra is quite well aware that it is 
not the practice of nations to undertake to prohibit their own subjects, by 
previous laws, from trafiicking in articles contraband of war. Such trade 
is carried on at the risk of those engaged in it, under the liabilities and 
penalties prescribed by the law of nations or by particular treaties. If it 
be true, therefore, that citizens of the United States have been engaged in 
a commerce by which Texas, an enemy of Mexico, has been supplied with 
arms and munitions of war, the Government of the United States never- 
theless was not bound to prevent it, could not have prevented it without 
a manifest departure from the principles of neutrality, and is in no way 
answerable for the consequences. The treaty of the 5th of April, 1S31, 
between the United States and Mexico itself, shows most clearly how little 
foundation there is for the complaint of trading with Texas, if Texas is 
to be regarded as a public enemy of Mexico. The 16th article declares, 
' It shall likewise be lawful for the aforesaid citizens, respectively, to sail 
with their vessels and merchandise before mentioned, and to trade, with the 
same liberty and security, from the places, ports, and havens of those who 
are enemies of both or either party, without any opposition or disturbance 
whatsoever, not only directly from the places of the enemy before men- 
tioned to neutral places, but also from one place belonging to an enemy to 



APPENDIX. 299 

another place belonging to an enemy, whether they be under the jurisdic- 
tion of the same Government, or under several.' 

" The 18th article enumerates those commodities which shall be regarded 
as contraband of war ; but neither that article, nor any other, imposes on 
either nation any duty of preventing, by previous regulation, commerce in 
such articles. Such commerce is left to its ordinary fate, according to the 
law of nations. It is only, therefore, by insisting, as Mr. de Bocanegra 
does insist, that Texas is still a part of Mexico, that he can maintain any 
complaint. Let it be repeated, therefore, that if the things against which 
he remonstrates be -oTong, they have their source in the original wrong of 
the acknowledgment of Texian independence. But that acknowledgment 
is not likely to be retracted. 

" There can be no doubt at all that, for the last six years, the trade in 
articles conti-aband of war between the United States and Mexico has been 
greater than between the United States and Texas. It is probably greater 
at the present moment. Why has not Texas a right to complain of this ? 
For no reason, certainly, but because the permission to trade, or the actual 
trading, by the citizens of a Government, in articles contraband of war, is 
not a breach of neutrality. 

" Mr. de Bocanegra professes himself unable to comprehend how those 
persons of whom he complains have been able to evade the punishment 
decreed against them by the laws of the United States ; but he does not 
appear to have a clear idea of the principles or provisions of those laws. 
The duties of neutral nations in time of war are prescribed by the law of 
nations, which is imperative and binding upon all Governments ; and 
nations not unfrequently establish municipal regulations for the better 
government of the conduct of their subjects or citizens. 

" This has been done by the United States, in order to maintain, with 
greater certainty, a strict and impartial neutrality, pending war between 
other countries. And wherever a violation of neutral duties, as they 
exist by the law of nations, or any breach of its own laws, has been brought 
to the notice of the Government, attention has always been paid to it. 

" At an early period of the Texian revolution, strict orders were given by 
the President of the United States, to all officers on the South and South- 
western frontier, to take care that those laws should be observed ; and the 
attention of the Government of the United States has not been called to 
any specific violation of them, since the manifestation on the part of 
Mexico of an intention to renew hostilities with Texas ; and all officers of 
the Government remain charged with the strict and faithful execution of 
these laws. On a recent occasion, complaint was made, by the represen- 



300 RECOLLECTIONS OT MEXICO. 

latives of Texas, that an armament was fitted out in the United States for 
the service of Mexico against Texas. 

" Two vessels of war, it was alleged, built or purchased in the United 
States, for the use of the Government of Mexico, and well understood as 
intended to be employed against Texas, were equipped and ready to sail 
from the waters of New York. The case was carefully inquired into, 
official examination was made, and legal counsel invoked. It appeared to 
be a case of great doubt ; but Mexico was allowed the benefit of that doubt, 
and the vessels left the United States, with the whole or a part of their 
armament actually on boai-d. The same administration of even-handed 
justice, the same impartial execution of the laws, towards all parties, will 
continue to be observed. 

" If forces have been raised in the United States, or vessels fitted out in 
their ports for Texian service, contrary to law, no instance of which has as 
yet come to the knowledge of the Government, prompt attention will be 
paid to the first case, and to all cases which may be made known to it. 
As to advances, loans, or donations of money or goods, made by individuals 
to the Government of Texas or its citizens, Mr. de Bocanegra hardly needs 
to be informed that there is nothing unlawful in this, so long as Texas is at 
peace with the United States, and that these are things which no Govern- 
ment undertakes to restrain. Other citizens are equally at liberty, should 
they be so inclined, to show their good will towards Mexico by the same 
means. Still less can the Government of the United States be called upon 
to interfere with opinions uttered in the public assemblages of a free peo- 
ple, accustomed to the independent expression of their sentiments, result- 
ing in no violation of the laws of their country, or of its duties as a neutral 
State. Towai'ds the United States, Mexico and Texas stand in the same 
relation — as independent States at war. Of the character of that war man- 
kind will form their own opinions : and in the United States, at least, the 
utterance of those opinions cannot be suppressed. 

" The second part of Mr. de Bocanegra's complaint is thus stated : ' No 
sooner does the Mexican Government, in the exercise of its rights, which 
it cannot and does not desire to renounce, prepare means to recover a pos- 
session usurped from it, than the whole population of the United States, 
especially in the Southern States, is in commotion ; and in the most public 
manner, a large portion of them is directed upon Texas.' 

" And how does Mr. de Bocanegra suppose that the Government of the 
United States can prevent, or is bound to undertake to prevent, the peo- 
ple from thus going to Texas ? This is emigration — the same emigration, 
though not under the same circumstances, which Mexico invited to Texas 
before the revolution. These persons, so far as is known to the Govern- 



APPENDIX. 



301 



ment of the United States, repair to Texas, not as citizens of the United 
States, but as ceasing to be such citizens, and as changing at the same time 
their allegiance and their domicil . Should they return , after having entered 
into the service of a foreign State, still claiming to be citizens of the United 
States, it will be for the authorities of the United States Government to 
determine how far they have violated the municipal laws of the country, 
and what penalties they have incurred. The Government of the United 
States does not maintain, and never has maintained, the doctrine of the 
perpetuity of natural allegiance. And surely Mexico maintains no such 
doctrine ; because her actually existing Government, like that of the United 
States, is founded in the principle that men may throw off the obligation 
of that allegiance to which they are born. The Government of the United 
States, from its origin, has maintained legal provisions for the naturaliza- 
tion of such subjects of foreign States as may choose to come hither, make 
their home in the country, and renouncing their former allegiance, and com- 
plying with certain stated requisitions, to take upon themselves the char- 
acter of citizens of this Government. Mexico herself has laws granting 
equal facilities to the naturalization of foreigners. On the other hand, the 
United States have not passed any law restraining their own citizens, native 
or naturalized, from leaving the country and forming political relations 
elsewhere. Nor do other Governments, in modern times, attempt any such 
thing. It is true that there are Governments which assert the principle of 
perpetual allegiance ; yet, even in cases where this is not rather a matter 
of theory than practice, the duties of this supposed continuing allegiance 
are left to be demanded of the subject himself, when within the reach of 
the power of his former Government, and as exigencies may arise, and are 
not attempted to be enforced by the imposition of previous restraint, pre- 
venting men from leaving their country. 

" Upon this subject of the emigration of individuals from neutral to belli- 
gerent States, in regard to which Mr. de Bocanegra appears so indignant, 
we must be allowed to bring Mexico into her own presence, to compare 
her with herself, and respectfully invite her to judge the matter by her own 
principles and her own conduct. In her great struggle against Spain, for 
her own independence, did she not open her arms wide to receive all who 
would come to her from any part of the world ? And did not multitudes 
flock to her new-raised standard of liberty, from the United States, from 
England, Ireland, France, and Italy, many of whom distinguished them- 
selves in her service, both by sea and land ? She does not appear to have 
supposed that the Governments of these persons, thus coming to unite 
their fate with hers, were, by allowing the emigration, even pending a 
civil war, furnishing just cause of offence to Spain. Even in her military 



302 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

operations against Texas, Mexico employed many foreign emigrants ; and 
it may be thought remarkable that, in those very operations, not long be- 
fore the battle of San Jacinto, a native citizen of the United States held 
high command in her service, and performed feats of no mean significance 
in Texas. Of that toleration, therefore, as she calls it, and which she now 
so warmly denounces, Mexico in that hour of her emergency embraced 
the benefits, eagerly, and to the full extent of her power. May we not 
ask, then, how she can reconcile her present complaints with her own 
practice, as well as how she accounts for so long and unbroken a silence 
upon a subject on which her remonstrance is now so loud ? 

" Spain chose to regard Mexico only in the light of a rebellious province 
for near twenty years after she had asserted her own independence. Does 
Mexico now admit that, for all that period, notwithstanding her practical 
emancipation from Spanish power, it was unlawful for the subjects and 
citizens of other Governments to carry on with her the ordinary business of 
commerce, or to accept her tempting offers to emigrants ? 

" Certainly such is not her opinion. 

" Might it not be asked, then, even if the United States had not already 
and long ago acknowledged the independence of Texas, how long they 
should be expected to wait for the accomplishment of the object now, exist- 
ing only in purpose and intention, of the resubjugation of that territory by 
Mexico ? 

" How long, let it be asked, in the judgment of Mexico herself, is the fact 
of actual independence to be held of no avail against an avowed purpose 
of future reconquest ? 

" Mr. de Bocanegra is pleased to say that, if war actually existed between 
the two countries, proceedings more hostile, on the part of the United States, 
could not have taken place than have taken place, nor the insurgents of 
Texas obtained more effectual co-operation than they have obtained. 

" This opinion, however hazardous to the discernment and just estimate 
of things of those who avow it, is yet abstract and theoretical, and, so far, 
harmless. 

" The efficiency of American hostility to Mexico has never been tried ; 
the Government has no desire to try it. It would not disturb the peace for 
the sake of showing how erroneously Mr. de Bocanegra has reasoned, while, 
on the other hand, it trusts that a just hope may be entertained that Mexico 
will not inconsiderately and needlessly hasten into an experiment by 
which the truth or fallacy of his sentiments may be brought to an actual 
ascertainment. 

"Mr. de Bocanegra declares, in conclusion, that his Government finds 
itself under the necessity of protesting solemnly against the aggressions 



APPENDIX. 303 

which the citizens of the United States are reiterating upon the Mexican 
territory, and of declaring, in a positive manner, that it will consider as a 
violation of the treaty of amity the toleration of that course of conduct 
which he alleges inflicts on the Mexican Republic the injuries and incon- 
veniences of war. The President exceedingly regrets both the sentiment 
and the manner of this declaration. But it can admit but of one answer. 
The Mexican Government appears to require that which could not be 
granted, in whatever language or whatever tone requested. The Govern- 
ment of the United States is a government of law. The Chief Execu- 
tive Magistrate, as well as functionaries in every other Department, 
is restrained and guided by the Constitution and the laws of the 
land. Neither the Constitution, nor the law of the land, nor principles 
known to the usages of modern States, authorizes him to interdict lawful 
trade between the United States and Texas, or to prevent, or attempt to 
prevent, individuals from leaving the United States for Texas or any other 
foreign country. 

" If such individuals enter into the service of Texas, or any other foreign 
State, the Government of the United States no longer holds over them the 
shield of its protection. They must stand or fall in their newly assumed 
character, and according to the fortunes which may betide it. But the Gov- 
ernment of the United States cannot be called upon to prevent their emi- 
gration ; and it must be added, that the Constitution, public treaties, and 
the laws, oblige the President to regard Texas as an independent State, and 
its territory as no part of the territory of Mexico. Every provision of law, 
every principle of neutral obligation, will be sedulously enforced in relation 
to Mexico, as in relation to other Powers, and to the same extent, and with 
the same integrity of purpose. All this belongs to the constitutional power 
and duty of th^ Government, and it will all be fulfilled. But the continu- 
ance of amity with Mexico cannot be purchased at any higher rate. If the 
peace of the two countries is to be disturbed, the responsibility will de- 
volve on Mexico. She must be answerable for consequences. The United 
States, let it be again repeated, desire peace. It would be with infinite 
pain that they should find themselves in hostile relations with any of the 
new Governments on this continent. But their Government is regulated, 
limited, full of the spirit of liberty, but surrounded, nevertheless, with just 
restraints ; and greatly and fervently as it desires peace with all States, and 
especially with its more immediate neighbors, yet no fear of a different 
state of things can be allowed to interrupt its course of equal and exact 
justice to all nations, nor to jostle it out of the constitutional orbit in 
which it revolves. 

" I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

" Waddy Thompson, Jr., Esq., &c. " DANIEL WEBSTER. 



304 RECOLLECTIONS OF MEXICO. 

['♦ Mr. Webster to Mr. Thompson.'] 

" Department of State, 

" Washington, July 13, 1842. 

" Sir : After writing to you on the 8th instant, I received, through the 
same channel as the former, Mr. de Bocanegra's second letter, and at the 
same time your despatch of the 6th of June, and your private letter of the 
21st. This last letter of Mr. de Bocanegra was written, as you will see, 
before it was possible for him to expect an answer to his first, which an- 
swer is now forwarded, and shows the groundless nature of the complaints 
of Mexico. The letter itself is highly exceptionable and offensive. It 
imputes violations of honor and good faith to the Government of the 
United States, not only in the most unjust but in the most indecorous man- 
ner. You have not spoken of it in terms too strong in your circular to the 
members of the diplomatic corps. 

" On the receipt of this, you will write a note to Mr. de Bocanegra, in 
which you will say that the Secretary of State of the United States, on the 
9th of July, received his letter of the 31st of May. That the President of 
the United States considers the language and tone of that letter derogatory 
to the character of the United States, and highly offensive, as it imputes to 
their Government a direct breach of faith ; and that he directs that no 
other answer be given to it, than the declaration that the conduct of the 
Government of the United States, in regard to the war between Mexico and 
Texas, having been always hitherto governed by a strict and impartial 
regard to its neutral obligations, will not be changed or altered in any 
respect or in any degree. If for this the Government of Mexico shall see 
fit to change the relations at present existing between the two countries, 
the responsibility remains with herself. 

" I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

" DANIEL WEBSTER. 
" Waddy Thompson, Esq. , Envoy Extraordinary and 

Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, Mexico." 



-A- 

m 



. Fa . 12, .bV>4:. 



NEW AND VALUABLE 



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PUBLISHED BY 



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NEW YORK: 



1846. 



ii WILEY AND PUTNAM'S ADVERTISEMENT 

" We pronounce it a work of uncommon interest and merit." — Rover. 

" This is the titie o. ^ book just issued by Wiley & Putnam, as No. 1 of 
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" This is a pleasantly written Journal of a cruise to the western coast of 
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No. II. 
POE'S TALES. 

Tales. By Edgar A. Foe. 1 vol., beautifully printed in large clear type, 
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This collection includes the most characteristic of the peculiar series 
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WILEY AND PUTNAM'S ADVERTISEMENT. iii 

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It WILEY AND PUTNAM'S ADVERTISEMENT 

assured mastery of every subject which he handles. * The Murders in tht 
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H 99 78 - 



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